The Waterson Family: Derby Half-Marathon

Yikes! Time certainly slips away from you. I meant to post about my Derby Half-Marathon after I ran it, but life once again got in the way. The challenge most recently has been that the blogspot app on my phone that I was using to update the blog is no longer available...so that means I have to fire up the old laptop to update...let's just say our home laptop is quite ancient and extremely slow. Anybody have an app they use for iPhones that allows for blog posting to blogspot? Let me know!

Anyways, I ran my 6th half-marathon on April 30th. All week I had been stalking the weather, and it didn't look good. It was actually calling for torrential rain and lightning...yikes! The night before, I spent the night with my mom and I checked the weather one last time before I went to sleep. It showed a later start to the rain, so I was hoping the start would be dry! Sure enough, when I woke up the next morning, the rain wasn't supposed to come until a little after the 7:30am start time...woohoo!! Since it was supposed to be a pretty crappy day, I wasn't going to have any fan support. Tony would've been miserable taking the 3 girls out so we decided to just leave them home. The plan was for my dad to take me (and drop me off), and my mom would come later and watch the finish and take me home. My mom and I had planned out where we would meet if we couldn't find each other the night before...thank goodness, because we had to use our meeting spot!

I woke up and ate my normal pre-race breakfast and since it was calling for rain, I wrapped my phone (I still use my old iPhone for running) in a ziploc bag and got it all situated in my arm-band. I hate wearing hats, but had that on as well (which by the way, I need to invest in a visor because the hat was too hot as well). When I did this race the year before, it rained as well, and I wore a rain jacket...but I was so incredibly hot in that thing so I just figured I'd get wet this year...no biggie. I brought along a garbage bag with me in case it started raining while waiting at the starting line...that way I could wear it and stay dry as long as possible.

My dad dropped me off about a mile away from the starting line. I went ahead and used the bathroom on the Waterfront because the line was super short and then headed to the start. I never had to use my garbage bag as it was still not raining. I was supposed to meet up with Angie and Bill before the race, but we never found each other. I started moving myself to the middle of the wave and got myself situated.

Quick pic from the photographer at the start

And then...we were off!! The temps were in the 60s...and maybe event the low 70s, and I just felt hot and slightly dizzy. Around mile 6 it started to drizzle, which honestly felt pretty good at first. It wasn't too bad for several miles. You enter Churchill Downs around Mile 8 and it definitely started to rain harder.

Love the twin spires in the background!

As the race went on, it started raining harder and harder. It was pointless to avoid puddles because my feet were already soaked. The last several miles seemed to drag on forever thanks to the hard rain. My mom was supposed to be at the finish line, and as I was running down the final stretch, I kind of looked around, but I didn't spot her. I finished the race with a new PR despite the rain: 1:55:26!

I couldn't find my mom anywhere and since I was using my old phone I couldn't call her. We had planned on meeting at the Run the Bluegrass/Half Classic tent where I would pick up my extra medal if she couldn't find me. After about 10-15 min of standing in the rain, she found me at the tent. She said she was around the finish line but never saw me cross (it's a pretty crowded race).