The Half-Marathon I’m dreaming of!
The Hamilton Marathon Road2Hope!
Okay, so maybe it isn’t the race of my dreams in real life, but it is a local (to my father-in-law) half-marathon that is taking place in November and therefore makes a nice weekend for him with the girls, and an easy come back race for me. I say easy because at my father-in-laws house I can cook pasta for Saturday dinner, and I can eat my pre-race food and all that without worrying about if there will be a microwave or a place to keep my oatmeal cold, and so on. Because really cold oatmeal in the morning and raw pasta for dinner are not a good way to prep for a race!
Apparently the course is supposed to be fast (there is a big downhill on a highway – how neat is that), you can pick up your race kit Friday/Saturday AND Sunday, and the finish line (and park to catch a bus to the starting line) is only 3.6km from my father-in-laws house. So really I could not have picked a more convenient race to do with our little ladies and Steve. This will be a good trial run for us for my plans to do Around the Bay in the new year. I’ve run 3 half-marathons already and don’t expect to get a PR at this one, so if we work out the kinks so my 30k race next year runs smoothly, I’m happy with a good run.
Now don’t go telling me not to doubt myself and such. I would LOVE to PR at this race, and plan to give it my all, but I have to be honest. I’m running 3 days right now, not my normal 4. I’m just getting back to pain free long runs with my hip, my core needs more work, and I have to work the Saturday before the race. Honestly, I’ll be spending 4 hours on my feet walking around at a campus day event, so that means I’ll be tired from that, and then have to drive to Hamilton (1.5 hours for me) to get to my father-in-laws. So realistically these aren’t the greatest day before race plans that I’ve ever had, but I plan to do the race and run the best of my abilities.
Who knows everything might fall into place so I just rock it and PR, or like my first half-marathon I could be sick as a dog, it could pour rain, and I could just pray it ends sooner rather than later. But I will finish, and be proud regardless! Every race makes me stronger, prouder, and better equipped for everything that life throws at me, and a little less crazy.