Revel Half Marathon Recap - Big Bear Race - Run Eat Repeat

(Tank (similar but mine was old) shorts, shoes, bra, socks, ear warmer)

Before we get into the race details, I thought I would share a few reasons why I wanted to run this marathon… (I felt like I had increasingly in me without some time off without St. George and started the search):

*It fell exactly at my favorite place in my trundling to run. For St. George (and CIM would have been the same), I was running during my least favorite place in my trundling to run (just a day or two surpassing my period starts). I have my weightier races at this point in my cycle. PS if anyone wants to transfer my CIM bib, let me know!

*Some of my favorite girls were planning on racing it, and I was excited to do it with them.

*I love downhill running and I just wanted to go do it considering I enjoy doing it. I wanted to see what was possible on this downhill of a undertow for me. I didn’t run in higher (or upper school!), I’m just a mom that is very passionate well-nigh running and expressly the marathon. If a undertow is calling my name, I will follow plane though it was just 6 weeks without St. George. VERY thankful for my coach figuring out a way to get me when out there and a quick turnaround! Definitely making my friend mentor me forever.

*It worked with our family’s schedule. For CIM, Andrew would have had to get work off and we wouldn’t have been worldly-wise to leave until the day surpassing the race considering of the kid’s schedules. Big Bear felt like a fun little getaway for us in the mountains!

*My friend ran a 2:35 at Big Bear in 2021 and then a 2:33 in Chicago this year. She said that the fast splits at Big Bear helped her to see it was possible and gave her the conviction to then go do it at Chicago!

*IT IS COLD. After a hot marathon, I was increasingly than excited to run in freezing temperatures.

*I’m just so grateful Andrew supports my crazy plans. I never would have imagined having found someone like Andrew. He is so good to me in every aspect.

We crush to Big Bear on Thursday afternoon. We wanted to turn the weekend into a little vacation for our family with a minor interruption for a race;). I bought the bus pass to take from Big Bear to the starting line (just a 30-minute ride) and moreover paid to pick up my bib at the starting line so we didn’t have to go to the expo that was an hour away. I didn’t want the hairdo to finger like it was all well-nigh a race, and that we could get in lots of quality time. I’ll do a full post on what we did in Big Bear tomorrow!

I woke up at 3:20 in the morning without well-nigh 5.5 hours of sleep and only one kid woke us up that night. I took a shower (I love doing this surpassing a race to help wake me up). I had two packets of oatmeal and a comic surpassing heading to the busses. We stayed at the cutest motel that was right by where the busses pick you up in Big Bear. They had the really nice busses for us and we left the parking lot at 4:41 am (11 minutes late which is moreover how late the race started).

I was feeling a little nervous well-nigh getting my bib at the starting line and not having unbearable time but it was the easiest thing ever. They handed me my bib and I used the restrooms and then met up with my friends. It was well-nigh 25 degrees at this point and I was thankful for the emergency wrap they had for us in the bags, it helped so much.

Beth had two very important things for me. She had this pacing bracelet for me with my goal time (which I stuck to pretty much like glue ((the same splits my mentor gave me)) and it made it so fun to squint at each mile withal the way… the last four miles I just went into survival mode and didn’t squint at my watch or pacing chart) and Imodium. TMI TIME (skip superiority if you would like ha but we are all runners)… Friday afternoon I started having major gastrointestinal issues. I must have eaten something bad but I was nervous and it didn’t enjoy the situation ha. I was moreover having major problems Saturday morning and while Imodium makes me finger nauseated, I would segregate nausea over having to stop ten times during the race. I am SO grateful she had that for me considering I don’t know what I would have done.

There was snow on the sides of the road! It was nice and light by the time we started and everyone was so friendly while we waited for the race to start.

We went out and I was the first sexuality (for the first 25 miles). A few men passed me and I passed a few men but that is well-nigh it for 25 miles. The man wanderlust with me for those 25 miles (for the lead woman) was vastitude incredible. I kept telling him thank you withal the way. He let me know when there was ice coming up and to go virtually it, he told any spectators withal the way to cheer for me or to make some space, he was just the best.

The first 9 miles include some pretty steep but short up. They alimony your legs guessing and reminding you to be smart but overall you waif 5k feet over the unshortened undertow of this marathon. SO much down. Once I got to mile 9, I was so excited to get to trip lanugo the rest of the way without any increasingly up. I was hitting my splits and my feet warmed up at mile 5 which was nice. Taking water in the first few miles felt like it froze on the way lanugo but I will take that ANY day over temps whilom 50 degrees ha. I took off my arm warmers, gloves and earwarmer (the biker held onto it for me until without the race!) and the temperatures were pure heaven.

There were two points where my nausea got so bad that I truly thought I needed to quit considering I felt so sick. I told myself over and over then that the feelings transpiration in a marathon. Things will change. EVERYTHING else was going perfectly, I could handle nausea… that wasn’t going to stop me. And at both points it did go yonder without well-nigh a mile (I felt nauseated most of the race but those points were low)!

At the half-way point I put in my music (first marathon with music in a long time) and it perked me up a lot. If I do this race then I will bring sunglasses considering there were some miles that the sun was pretty unexceptionable but for the majority, we were in the shade.

Miles were clicking by, some felt largest than others but while the downhill makes it easy to run fast aerobically, my muscles were feeling it to the cadre from all of the pounding (some of the miles you waif 300 ft so pretty steep).

Andrew was pretty sure he would only be worldly-wise to see me at the end considering of how the pass is shut lanugo to just one lane heading up but he was worldly-wise to get everyone to mile 23 too! It made me tear up considering I was so happy to see them.

The final 10k you are still going downhill but it gets less with each mile. I told myself to tighten up (my stovepipe naturally swing all over the place) which helped me to switch up my form and offered relief to some of my leg muscles that were really hurting and recruite new muscles.

I brought a small snifter that fit in my shorts of gatorade that I sipped on throughout the marathon and took water from every aid station. They offered Nuun at the aid stations which I had never tried during a run so I didn’t want to start trying it during the race. I did pour a few cups of unprepossessed Nuun all over my throne though ha. It wasn’t hot in the final miles but it just felt refreshing to pour something on my throne (I thought it was water but it wasn’t ha).

At mile 25 (maybe a bit before) a woman came by that looked sooo strong. She was superincumbent it and motioned for me to come with her which I thought was so cool. Of course, it isn’t fun getting passed so late in a race when you have led it for so long but I knew I was giving everything I had and I was proud of that. She finished in 2:39 and I finished in 2:40 followed without by one of my friends there. The top 3 were all from Utah!

I got to the end and just sat on the ground considering my legs were vastitude done. I crawled over to a chair and sat there for a few minutes trying to get going again.

A few minutes later and I was on deject 9:

Especially when Andrew gave me lip gloss. That felt too good.

I love this painful running stuff so much. I think we know when we sign up for a race we are signing up for growth. We get to learn so much well-nigh who we are during a race. We get a peak into our own psychology and the endangerment to learn how to push ourselves into doing nonflexible things. I love it considering in a physically well-appointed world that I have (a warm house, a car, a husband that gives me foot massages often;), I get to test how far I can go into pain without giving up. I just love it.

*Revel races have it DOWN on how to alimony your people informed. I think it sent people that were signed up to follow me like 12 texts withal the way and then it moreover offered real-time following.

*The undertow was so beautiful. Being in the mountains is my favorite place to be.

*Arm warmers are the weightier invention (mine were really old otherwise I would link them)… they alimony you warm when you need it and they are so easy to take off when you don’t need them.

*It’s a really good feeling when you leave it all out there on the course. Whether we hit our goal times or not, knowing we put it out there and tried is the weightier feeling.

*I lost ALL vital math skills in those final miles. It’s crazy to me how that happens and your smart-ass just goes into jello. Left foot, right foot on repeat is what I thought most of those final miles.

*I stuck to my Maurtens every 4 miles. One right surpassing the race and then every 4 miles without that. I don’t remember the order of caffeine and normal gels besides taking a caffeine one right surpassing the start.

*I didn’t bring my phone and played music from my watch. It was amazing. I’ll go increasingly into detail well-nigh that on Friday.

*Lauren shared the weightier mental tips with me the day before, I need a whole post to talk well-nigh them but one of the things she shared was that when you are really tired, you are still only giving 40% (from David Goggins)… we are capable of so much increasingly and that helped me to alimony pushing when things hurt.

*I’m going to be sore for a very long time.

*I didn’t run the day surpassing the race considering I just wanted to hang out with the family and we went to the zoo first thing in the morning. I think I really like taking the day off surpassing a marathon.

*My kids took a vote and decided they want me to do this race every year considering they loved Big Bear so much.

*Doing a new undertow scares me (can you tell… I’ve washed-up St. George like 40 times ha) but it was SO fun to see an entirely new spot. I need to do that increasingly often.

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Who else was at Big Bear? Give me your details!

Tell me the weightier part of your weekend!

Nuun… you like it? What electrolyte drink do you prefer during a race?

This question hurts for me to ask but would you rather have dry lips or dry skin on your face?

-I would rather my squatter finger dry than my lips.

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