Armadillo Dash

Last Sunday, 03/02/14, I ran my third half marathon....the Armadillo Dash 5K and Half Marathon in College Station, TX.  All week, the weather was predicting thunderstorms ahead of a cold front.  The temperature to start out was a very muggy and humid 68 degrees.  This is my third year to run this race too; although, the last two years I have run the 5K.  The rain lightly drizzled right before the start of the race for a very short time.  The half marathoners started first at 7AM with the 5Kers about 15 minutes later.  This was a very hilly course!  Once we turned off the main road, we started out onto a more residential country road, and the humidity was so thick.  It was a very nice paved road, but with the trees lining each side; there was no wind movement at all.  I made my first walk break to refuel and hydrate around 5.5 miles.  I feel like that was my demise......I felt like I needed to stop more often after that.  I saw lots of half marathoners stopping to stretch or just trying to get acclimated to the humidity.  I came up on a group where a young lady had passed out!  Luckily, they had her in a car and the motorcycle policeman had just arrived to offer assistance.  Around mile 9, a heavy rain shower came through.  At least it made you feel a little bit cooler.  The water stops were about every 2 miles apart with different organizations vying for best water stop.  We voted at the finish line for our favorite.  I voted for the ones that had the coldest water!!  I was hoping to have a PR, but I was just glad to make it across the finish line.  I finished at 2:30:22  About 30 minutes after finishing, the rain had arrived.  Luckily, there was no lightening.  Crazy TX weather.....because around 10AM the front had arrived and the temperature was dropping rapidly!!  
Going to take a break from all the half training......I've actually qualified for the Half Fanatics with completing 3 half marathons within 90 days....mine was 84 days!  Going to enjoy casual weekday runs and still meet up on Saturdays with a few ladies from the running group for some "long" runs.  I've signed up for a few upcoming 5K races.  I'd like to work on my speed for those.  
Waiting to start 

Coming in to the finish

Glad to be done

Cute armadillo medal