Sweet
Ol Savannah! …turned into a sweet ol’ race weekend! The Rock n Roll series
takes place in 18 cities around the world, and this year was Savannah’s
Inaugural. Savannah was going to prove that the small charming city could
handle one of the largest race events out there! And from my point of view, I
can happily say they lived up to its standards!
23,000
runners had registered for the half and full marathon, with of course all fifty
states and all 21 countries represented. The race had been sold out since
August.
Two
days before I was to leave for Savannah, I got an email from a lady named Suly
who said she was friends with Lucy (who we just walked with in the Tampa 3Day),
and was also registered for Savannah RnR, but wasn’t really planning on going
because of lack of training. Well, we quickly turned that around, and I had
myself a new travel and racing buddy!
We
had an easy ride up to Savannah, just a few hours from Jacksonville, and
arrived to the Expo about 1p. There was no traffic and we actually got a
parking spot just a few rows away. The Expo wasn’t all that, but there were
some Gorgeous men walking around! (must be the nearby military bases, although
they said 88% of the runners were from out of town). We even met a man that
just Crewed one of the Breast Cancer 3 Day events, and was with a woman who was
a breast cancer survivor.
We
got our swag bag, did some gear shopping and then hopped on the ferry to have
lunch and shop on the Riverwalk. The line wasn’t too long, and we chatted with
some wonderful people from Wisconsin who were wearing flip flops in the cold
weather!
We
had a late lunch of crab chowder and fried green tomatoes at the Cotton
Exchange Tavern, and shopped the outdoor market where we met a super talented
and friendly local artist who asked us…”Are you running the short race or the
long race?” LOL I bought a piece of art for my wall that has my new mantra of
“Settle for More”.
The
ferry line to get back to our car was getting longer at this point, but the
city stepped up and got more boats to get everyone across the river. I guess
those people just getting off work were crammed in with those people getting
into town and causing traffic delays. The Expo was to end at 6pm, but they had
extended the hours because traffic was backed up for hours. It was a good thing
we got there early! I thought it was great that Savannah was fixing the
problems as they occurred and not just letting things happen.
We
got off the ferry, and we found out that Dodge was giving away $20 to a charity
of your choice if you did a test drive! Of course we stopped to sign up and put
the Donna Foundation down as the charity! =) SWEET!! The Pink Ribbon Tutu got a
$40 donation! The Dodge rep even took us straight to my car, so we didn’t have
to walk!
We
made our way over to our hotel, the Fairfield Inn, which was about 10 minutes
from downtown/start of the race. My plan for the morning was to take the Mall
shuttle which was 5miles in the opposite direction of the start, but it would
save us time from having to go to the Convention Center parking (which was
having the bad traffic delays today) and then have to take the ferry boat back
over the river to the starting line.
However,
when we checked into the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised that they were
offering a new shuttle right at our hotel! SWEET!... we got to get another half
an hour of sleep and not have to stress about driving in traffic! =)
Everyone
at the Fairfield Inn was surprisingly super nice and accommodating! They even
let us know that they were going to be serving their HOT continental breakfast
at 4am just for the runners!! No Cliff bar and banana breakfast for me!! Then
they even brought out freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for us! (Yes, we had
our desert before our dinner!)
We
got settled into our room and then headed out to Carrabbas for dinner. I knew
it was going to be a long wait. … I mean, what runner doesn’t eat pasta the
night before? Well, it was an hour and half wait. We decided to wait it out,
and ordered a glass of wine and stood at the bar while we waited. As soon as we
got our drinks, the couple sitting at the bar right next to us was leaving!
SWEET! We got seated in 10minutes while everyone else was waiting for a table!
Can our luck get any better??!
I ate
an Italian chicken pizza and snuck in a couple olives from the bar set up (I
was craving salt!) and then we made our way back to the hotel for some much
needed rest. We were asleep by 1030ish and up by 5am. I didn’t wake up once.
We
had oatmeal and toasted English muffins with juice and coffee for breakfast. I
really wanted the fresh waffles, eggs, and biscuits and gravy, but decided Id
better not over do it!
We
quickly ate, and then tried to jump on the shuttle that we signed up for at
545a. However, it was full, and they were not allowing standing room. Oh no,
had our luck run out??....Not to fear “Nitra” was on her way! Another shuttle
came, and the funniest, most polite, (and later learned most prepared) shuttle
driver came and picked us up not 5minutes later! We were at the starting line
by 630am without traffic and Nitra even printed us out directions to where we
were to meet the shuttle after the race. We later learned the mall shuttles we
originally planned on taking were completely unorganized, did not know the
directions to start, and after the race, the lines were tremendous! Once again,
the luck was on our side!
The
race was to start at 730a, so we had some time kill. It was a very chilly and
windy morning, temps in the lower 40s. We had jackets, gloves, and ear warmers
to keep us warm. The start was 1 block from the river and near a ton of hotels,
Panera, and Starbucks, so the majority of people stayed inside the buildings to
stay warm until last minute. This made for very short porta potty lines!
We
did some stretching, dropped off our gear, and were in our corral by 7am. I
decided to go to Sulys corral 16 ( I was registered for 12), but figured it
would be more fun to start together. We got to the very front of the corral
with the rope. They start each corral about 2 minute apart, so it takes about
30 minutes or so to do all 24 corrals. Each corral walks up to the starting
line, has their own countdown, and they blow the horn. It was cool to be the
very first ones on the starting line to begin ‘our’ part of the race. For a
split second I got to see what it felt like to be an Elite!
Suly
and I started the race together, but had a plan to meet at the end. She hadn’t
trained, so was going to do a run/walk for as much as she could and then power
walk it. I was still on my mission to run as far as I could without walking.
Our first few steps we saw this woman holding a sign that said “Make this run
your BITCH!”….Funniest thing I had ever read on a race!!…and it was going to be
my mantra for the rest of this race! I was on a mission to beat my Chicago
time!
I must
have been well hydrated despite the 2 huge glasses of wine I had the night
before, because I had to pee again when we were lined up to start. I figured
the feeling would go away after I started running but it didn’t. I was
searching for porta potties from mile 1!! Unfortunately there weren’t that many
(I believe they announced 750 for 23000 runners!!), and the ones that were
there had lines. There was no way I was standing in line! I was on a mission to
PR, since it was almost perfect conditions! I held it til mile 6, where I
finally darted into the woods and popped a squat…tutu and all!
Then
I wondered if having a full bladder was actually keeping me running faster,
because I was ahead of pace, but now I felt myself slowing and wanting to walk.
The
course was ok, but nothing that I was expecting. I had been to Savannah several
times, and had never seen what we ran through our first 4 miles ever
before!....Ghe-tto!! …I was actually scared for a brief moment as we ran
through there and got a lungful of weed! But then I realized everyone that was
out on the street, in their Pjs, and blankets, were so nice! Their Southern
Hospitality was definitely top notch!
In
fact, all of the supporters the entire race, were so polite. This has got to be
the ‘nicest’ race I have ever run! They all kept saying “Good Mornin’
Ya’ll!”….”Welcome to Savannah, Ya’ll!” It was so cute!
Once
we got across the ‘other side of the tracks’, we were back downtown and all the
families and friends staying in the hotels packed the streets. It was the
loudest cheering area, and I probably ran my fastest time through there! Tons
of high fives all around! Once through downtown, we were in the rich historic
neighborhoods where the locals were standing outside with their mimosas in
champagne glasses! …I think we definitely got to see both sides of savannah!
Much
of the course had sloped roads, so I found myself running down the center line
much of the way. The problem with that, is when I was ready to walk, I had to
make my way over to the side. The roads were pretty narrow, so my pace was
slowed several times just trying to get around people (I guess I should have
started in my own corral to avoid this).
My
right knee started hurting about mile 4, and then again about mile 9. I haven’t
had my knee hurt this bad in over a year. It had me worried for a while, but I
kept telling myself it had to be the cold that was making it act up, plus I had
just done the 3Day 60mile walk, so of course my body was a little over worked
this week! The sun was nice and warm, but the winds, up to 18mph were keeping
it cool. I had on long sleeves and a short sleeve over that, as well as pants.
My right big toe also went numb from mile 6-9, which Ive never felt before.
Even still, I was ahead of my goal and was set to PR by 12 minutes if I could
keep it up!
But
of course that ‘brick wall’ at mile 9 hit me once again. I had kept my GU on
reserve until Mile 6 (usually I have one at mile 3 or 4) so wondered if I made
a mistake. I was taking a water and a Cytomax at every station, but I decided
to still take the other 2 GUs at the next two stations so I wouldn’t poop out
at the end.
The
last mile was lined side by side with the full marathon course. It was pretty
cool, because the Elite marathoners were finishing right next to me as I was
struggling to finish my last mile of the half marathon!! The last mile was up a
hill (yes, I guess Savannah does have hills) and kept me stopping to walk
10seconds at a time. It was also very packed, because the already narrow road
was divided for the full on one side and the half on the other. My periods of
running, I want to run faster, but the people around me were running so slow,
it almost allowed me to walk more than I probably wanted to. I had to pass
through the cones to get around people.
I
sprinted in the straightaway, but again it was so packed I had to squeeze
through people trying to prepare and pose for their picture!
I
managed to finish 7 minutes faster than my personal best! I went into this
weekend feeling I was going to PR, but I had no idea I could PR by that much! I
definitely “made this race my Bitch!” LOL
The
end of the race, I was walking completely fine. My feet did not hurt. I didn’t
have blisters. My legs felt good. I walked straight to the gear truck, got out
of the wet clothes so I wouldn’t freeze, grabbed my MGD64 and energy bar, and
went to watch Carolina Liar! They were playing some pretty awesome jams, so I
sat down to enjoy and stretch. However, when I went to stand back up, my left
leg completely cramped up on me from toe to hip and would not even straightened
to bare my weight, so I tumbled over in front of everyone!! Was the most
hilarious thing, I wish someone had it on video! I guess sitting down so early
is not so good! I hydrated some more, and met up with Suly who completed
shortly after me!
We
took some pictures of the beautiful Forsyth Park and made our way over to our
hotel shuttle….jaws dropping when we saw the line for the mall shuttle! Yes, we
made the right decision on taking the hotel shuttle instead! We got to our
shuttle and Nitra was waiting for us! We had some side splitting laughs with
her as we waited for more runners. We also met a man who lost his wife to
breast cancer. He started running because she was a runner and this was his way
to connect with her and keep her spirit alive.
We
got to the hotel, cleaned up, checked out, and made our way to have the best
post race lunch ever at Hueys on the River…..creamed spinach and artichoke
omelet, shrimp n grits, and beignets….oh and Blue Moon!! =)
It was beautiful weekend,
beautiful race, with beautiful people! It just goes to show, if you open your
heart and view things in a positive light, then the happiness, positivity, and
luck will find its way in! Thank you Savannah for a great time once again!
13.1miles
2:27