Long Island Divas!

Divas Half Marathon- Long Island, NY

This weekend I traveled to Long Island with my friend, Annie, and her two younger sisters. We had a blast in the Divas Race. Here is a rundown of the weekend!

Race Swag

Saturday: Leave at 10:45 am for Long Island. Pit stop around 2pm for some lunch, then hit the Divas' expo for packet pick up around 4pm. The Divas expo was pretty awesome. It had a lot of unique women's running gear. I, of course, bought a bright pink 13.1 magnet for my car in honor of the Divas run, and I bought a cute sneaker charm. After the expo, we checked in at the Marriott and contemplated our dinner options. After the snafu at my previous half experience in Frederick, I warned everyone to stay clear of super greasy foods because no good can come from that. I opted for cheese quesadilla and downed several glasses of water. I turned into bed around 10pm and slept right through until 6:30pm when I decided to get up and prepped for my race the next morning.

Sunday Pre-race: As any good diva should, I donned my finest pink gear, but I skipped the tutu because there was a pending rain forecast. I figured it would be difficult enough to try and run in the rain and I didn't need a tutu weighing me down. Annie and I checked to make sure we had everything and we boarded our 7:20 bus at 7:19. We downed our breakfast and made sure everything was adequately pinned and in place. We arrived at Eisenhower Park ready to go. After snapping a few pics of the starting point, I anxiously awaited for the race to begin.

Annie & I pre-

The Race: Mile 1 I almost ran completely, I stopped to walk just long enough to let my calves adjust to everything, then I continued on until I completed mile 2 and hit the water stop. I met up with Annie who started to run ahead and I gulped my water. It caused a lot of pain. I offer this advice, Don't Gulp Water, drink it slowly otherwise it is unpleasant. Once the water settled, I continued to run Miles 3 and 4. I ran with the strategy of walk after every 5 to 6 songs and then walk one song. That meant I was running usually a mile at a time with a brief break. Mile 5 I walked up the slight hill and could start to feel some pressure in my lower back, but then I continued to run mile 6. I was relieved that I was almost half way done and keeping about a 14 to 15 min mile pace, which was my goal. After mile 6 I started to get sleepy, I have no idea why, but I felt the sudden urge to take a nap. I may have been sleep running because after a while I started to question that mile 6 to 7 was perhaps the longest mile I have ever run in my life. It was because somehow I had missed the mile 7 marker and I was now starting mile 8. 8 through 10 were brutal where I started to lose speed and I was now running more at a 15 min/mile pace. Still not bad, but the goal was under 3:30. At the end of mile 11 I got my boa and Tiara, an instant pick me up! I Then willed my self to complete mile 12 and 13 by chanting to myself that there was champagne and a hot shirtless man waiting for me at the finish line. As I rounded the final corner in Eisenhower Park I chose the hottest shirtless man I could find and I ran directly to him where he gave me an awesome race medal. Then I proceeded to get champagne, where the nice race volunteer gave me the biggest glass she could fine. Then I posed for a pic with Steve the fireman (will post as soon as I get that one!) and I hung with Annie while we waited for her sisters to finish!  We boarded the bus back to the hotel and proceeded to limp back to our prospective rooms in order to shower and rejoin the human race. We topped off the evening by drinking and eating copiously. I realized that I at one time had three beverages sitting in front of me, shots and mixed drinks and damnit I didn't care!

Hot shirtless men? Yes Please!!!

So What Did I Think: It was an awesome event! The run was easy because it was a flat and fast course. Probably why I ran it better and easier than most other halves because I didn't have to contend with hills. The medal was awesome, nice weight and really well done. The post race food was plentiful. There was a lot of on course support. The extra perks that they provided made the race clear it was for women, which I love. The only thing I wished they would have had was GU station on the course. I really struggled because I forgot my GU and it made getting through the race tough, but that really isn't their fault. I didn't think too much about it because I am accustomed to receiving an energy supplement somewhere along the course. It was an excellent race and if one every came to the DMV area, I would totally run it again!

Well, next half marathon is on Saturday. I am ready for Baltimore and to earn my 2nd race day medal for completing the MD Double! Booyah and happy running :-)