Come See Me Half Marathon

Short story: The Inaugural Come See Me Half Marathon was a a great race and I almost died.
Long story:
The Course
The first 9 miles were through tree lined roads and pretty open fields. At mile 9 there was a decent uphill section and then you run past the finish line and loop through a neighborhood. I hated seeing the finish line and then having to run 4 more miles, but maybe I wouldn't have minded if I'd felt better. I usually don't like courses that have you pass all of the runners coming in to finish when you still have more miles to run, but seeing them all flying by ended up being a distraction (and let me tell you... I needed a distraction at this point of the race).

Support
There were plenty of aid stations and support out on the course, and the volunteers were great! There were 2 bathroom stops along the course which luckily I didn't need to use. They didn't have any fuel for runners and the station around mile 8? only had Gatorade, which was a let down for me because I really wanted a cup of water to dump on my head. This Utah girl was hot!
Extras
The shirts were awesome! They didn't have gender specific sizing, but the shirts are so soft that I don't mind it being a little big. The medal had the famous Glen the frog on it. Runners got a Come See Me tote, water bottle and sunscreen at packet pick up.

They didn't have a race photographer, which I didn't mind since I'm pretty sure I looked like I was dying the entire race.  My friend did snap this picture of me at the finish (in blue).

Runners 
This was the smallest half I've done, with 135 runners (according to Queen City Timing results). Everyone was really nice and friendly, which isn't shocking since we were in South Carolina. :)

My girl Blue and me after the race. I forgot my sunglasses (oh the horror!). I'm incapable of opening my eyes without them on.

Why I almost didn't finish

Here come the excuses, so brace yourself. I was sick the 2 days before the race and deep down knew it would be smarter to just skip the race all together. The problem is I love running because it's hard, and it feels good to push through. So... I ran it. I went out way too fast. At mile 5 I was on track to PR, and then that's when I crashed and burned. Miles 5-9 were a balance of moving forward and not passing out. I've never felt sleepy while I was running, but I wanted to just lay down on the side of the road and go to sleep. Miles 9 to the end were miserable. My last mile was an 11:30 and even when I got to the track and knew my family was there cheering me on, I couldn't speed up. 13 minutes slower than my PR. Oh well. I learned a lot, and I still got to enjoy all of the post race bliss, knowing I pushed through. My official time was 2:11:03 and I'm dagum proud of that. :)

 My 24 year old Cockatiel "Shredder" liked my bling.

 

Do you run with sunglasses? 

 

What's your favorite type of race course? Point A to point B, out and back, loop, or figure 8?

I like the "point A to point B" courses. Taking a shuttle is a pain, but I love running this type of course.