Savannah Recap While I Remember Some Of It

I had so much fun in Savannah.  Loved it.  Great hotel, great free breakfasts in the morning (hello, biscuits and gravy), and wandering around with a beer in my hand while shopping all combined for a great vacation.  Oh.  And running that half marathon--what to say about that?

Lots of well wishers in town

Well, I'm trying to remember a lot of it.  I got up early, and left my sisters sleeping at the hotel.  It was very chilly out--around 40-45 degrees, and a breeze off the river.  I walked down to the start of the race and stood in a porta-potty line for 20 minutes.  There were so many people around it was kinda overwhelming. By the time the race started, my feet were completely numb from the cold.  I kept getting my Garmin set up, but it would go into 'save' mode because I was too anxious to just wait til I was closer to the start.  I had my cell phone with me, so I could call my sisters when I finished.  I was pretty sure they would never find me, and sure enough, I did not see them until after I had crossed the finish line.  


They were watching the start of the race from the hotel--it was live on TV.  The gun went off at 7:30, but I was in corral #19, so it took almost 25 minutes until I got to the start line.  After a brief bit of panic that my Garmin wouldn't start (it did, phew) I started running.  I've never run a race with so many people before, and pretty much the whole time I was just concentrating on passing people.  A lot of weaving in and out; hitting the gas pedal to pass annoying groups who all had to run next to each other, blocking the way for those of us behind them!  I just kept running and running and running.  I hit the 7 mile mark and grabbed a water and ate a bit of my snack.  I had to walk through that water stop, cause they weren't filling the cups fast enough.  Plus I couldn't chew swallow and run at the same time.  My sisters and I had agreed on a spot where they would watch for me, and I told them to be on the right side, since I tend to run on the right side of the road.  Well, I kept running, and never saw them.  I think they were behind me.  By mile 10, I was running out of juice.  I started drinking Cytomax at the stops, hoping it would help kick start me.  I had to take walk breaks, and I was a bit annoyed that I just wasn't going to make my 2:15/2:20 goal.  Towards the end, it was crazy.  I wanted to pass the slow pokes in front of me, but there was no room to pass, so I had to be happy with running behind a man who was jumping and skipping down to the finish line.  He made me smile that last little bit.  And once again, I managed to look like an idiot kinda half-raising my arms in a lame victory sign as I crossed the finish line.  And a minute later remembered to shut off my Garmin.  I heard Patti yell, and saw her and Pam on the side, but I couldn't get to them.   The runners were given medals, and told to keep moving along the line as we grabbed snacks, water, warming blankets, and stopped to get our official photos taken.  

I did not need this during the race

We forgot to take more photos after the race--duh

Then I couldn't find my sisters again.  I called Patti, and she didn't answer her cell phone!  Dammit!  I wandered around for a while, then spotted them standing by the end of the line, looking for me.  We finally met up, and they got a few shots of me and my medal. I called Bud since he was following my race via texts from competitor.com.  He was so happy with my time and even though he wasn't there to see me run, I knew he was cheering me on and willing me to keep running. Official time:  2:23:59.


 But no more race photos!  So I'm glad the official photo turned out.  I'll post more photos in my next post and more recap on our trip.