Leslie Blogs

writing about my life on a tiny island

2019 Chicago Half Marathon

I spent the last weekend in September in Chicago. The purpose of the trip was to meet a friend to run the Chicago Half Marathon but since the race was in Chicago, it had the added bonus of meaning I got to hang out with my brother who lives there!

After a flight that was diverted due to a medical emergency and then delayed for hours thanks to storms causing a ground stop at both Chicago airports, I finally made it to the hotel late Friday night (or technically, early Saturday morning).

After a few hours of sleep, I was happy to meet up with Matt and grab breakfast! We spent the morning wandering around Chicago while I waited on Sam’s flight to get in. Once Sam arrived, we headed to the race expo to pick up our bibs. The expo was really well organized and in just a few minutes we had our shirts, bibs, and bags full of freebies.

After way too much walk walking and finally just deciding on ordering a pizza to the room for dinner, it was time for our 4:00 am alarm! Unfortunately, we woke up to pouring rain, thunder, and lightning. We made the 5 block walk to the shuttles in the rain and got there just in time to sit….and sit….and sit! The shuttles were supposed to leave at 4:45am but as you can from the screenshot, we were still waiting at nearly 5:30! We definitely appreciated being kept safe and once the storms finally cleared we were able to get to the race start and still started on time!

After a very muddy walk to and from bag check, we were off! It was rainy for most of the race and after starting in soaking wet shoes and socks, my feet were pretty much shredded after mile 3. That (and being undertrained) resulted in more walking and the slowest half I’ve ever run. I tried to take a few pictures along the way, but mostly kept my phone in a waterproof bag in the front pocket of my Nathan Hydration Pack so they’re pretty water spotted and not great quality! You can see the mud that the finish area was covered in and in the picture with that huge medal, that isn’t a brown sock, but yep! It is mud thanks to a fall on my way to grab my bag from the bag check tent.

Even with the horrible weather pre-race and the rain during the race, neither of which could be controlled, the Chicago Half was an amazingly organized and supported race! I would highly recommend this experience!

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2015 Holden Beach Half Marathon

Way back in September, I ran my second half marathon. I should have published this a long time ago, but the post has been sitting in my drafts for way too long with no words. Since I do want to be able to look back and remember this race, instead of the in depth post that I should have written I’m just going to leave a few quick pictures here!
My friend Susan and I decided to sign up for the Holden Beach races and make a girls weekend out of it. Who can ever say no to a weekend at the beach with friends? 
We drove down to the beach after work on Friday afternoon and made our way to packet pickup. It was just a little table set up outside of a restaurant, no expo or anything. I grabbed my half bib and Susan got her 5k bib. We also got shirts that are super soft and that I love!
We woke up way earlier than anyone should have to on a Saturday to drive the 5 or so minutes over the bridge and to the start. After parking, this was our view. Kind of worth the early wake-up, right?

Right before the race started (the 5k and half started together) we were rewarded with these colors in the sky. This was a smaller race than I’m used to at just over 600ish half marathoners. The start was easy to find and there was plenty of parking, but the one thing missing was bathrooms. Seriously- at least a thousand people (since the 5k and 1 mile runs start with the half) and TWO bathrooms. Zero port a pottys provided by the race at the start or along the course. That’s a major issue in my opinion, and one I hope they fix for next year! 

The half course started by taking runners up and over the Holden Beach Bridge, down and around short gravel drive, and back up and over the bridge. Umm, wow. I knew the rest of the race would be flat but those first couple of miles going over the bridge were tough! But again, we were rewarded with gorgeous ocean views while on the bridge, so it was worth it!

After the back and forth over the bridge, I REALLY wanted to turn left and finish up with the 5kers….but I decided to stick it out and headed right to run nearly 11 more miles. And yes, it was all flat, which was amazing. But I totally didn’t count on the crosswind, which was crazy. Like at times hard to walk upright much less run crazy. There were several water stops along the way with just water- so if you need any other fuel options, be sure to carry those with you! 
I was super excited to cross the finish line and get that huge (and HEAVY) medal!

 I didn’t see any of the advertised post race eats (except bananas) – but being able to stick my toes in the ocean after finishing find of made up for that. (And I’m sure faster runners had more options.)

Overall, this was a good race. I was a little disappointed with some of the organizational things (lack of restrooms, running out of food, etc…) but I’m hoping that the race director will take the feedback from this heat and make changes for the better next year. I can see myself making this an annual event on my race calendar.

2015 Charlotte SouthPark 8k Turkey Trot

I’ve always wanted to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, but for various reasons never have. This Thanksgiving, I was determined to change that, and signed up for the Charlotte Southpark Turkey Trot. This race had a 5k or 8k option, and I chose the 8k. Even signing up late on November 17, registration wasn’t too pricey at $40. Since that included a long sleeve t-shirt (cotton, tech tee was an additional $15) as well as a finisher’s medal, I didn’t think $40 was bad.
Since I wasn’t exactly sure how crowded race day would be, I opted to visit packet pick-up the day before, and it was super easy and fast to grab my bib and shirt. I tried to get to bed early and organize myself on Wednesday night so that I could get to the start on time. That meant that I finished cooking a Thanksgiving dessert, had my Garmin charged, and my Nuun bottles filled all before bed!
Prepping for race day!
On Thursday morning, I woke up and realized I didn’t have Bagel Thins or bread in the house, so went with a bowl of Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pecan Oats for breakfast before I left (prepping fail). Traffic on Thanksgiving morning was non-existent, so I made it to the start at SouthPark Mall with plenty of time to spare. I wasn’t exactly sure where the best place to park would be, but decided to park closer to the start than the finish to hopefully avoid traffic leaving. I made my way towards the 8k start line and was super happy to see that it was actually right by an indoor food court that housed a Bojangles, so was open! This meant that runners had a warm place to wait inside AND indoor bathrooms with NO LINES! It was great – especially since it was around 40 degrees at the start.
I met a fellow #TeamrunDisney Facebook group member and we actually stuck together for the whole race! The race started right on time, and we were off! The 8k started at 9:00 am, with the 5k starting at 9:30 in a different location, but they finished at the same spot. Being Charlotte, the course was filled with rolling hills, and our goal was just to have fun and keep to our 30:30 run/walk/run intervals. The course was open enough that in the first few miles there wasn’t really any crowding, which was great! At around the 2-mile marker, a couple families had set up a “water” stop with mimosas and Bloody Marys! There were a couple other families throughout the course that were out cheering runners on, which was nice!
Mimosas at Mile 2? Okay!

We kept up with our intervals, and before we knew it, there was only about a mile left. Somewhere around that point, the course merged with the 5k course. Well, it went from being not crowded at all, to being super crowded! It was fine for us since we were just running for fun, but I can imagine any 5kers who were racing may not have been pleased. There were around 7,000 finishers total, so it wasn’t exactly a small race! You can see from the splits how much the merging slowed us down in the last miles! (That and what I’m convinced is a Charlotte rule that races must have a huge uphill in the last mile or two of every race.)

Turkey Trot 8k Splits
8k Turkey Trot Finisher
Once through the finish chute, we were handed our medals, which are pretty great! My only complaint about the race was the organization after finishing. Although we saw people walking around with fruit and Kind Bars, we never saw any and had to assume they ran out. Even water at the finish line was almost completely gone (and was cups, not bottles), so I was extra happy I had a bottle of Nuun in the car waiting for me. 
We finished in about an hour, so that means people were finishing the 10k for at least another 30 minutes, and the 5k for a little longer than that. As a solid mid to back of the pack runner depending on the size of the race, nothing frustrates me more than races running out of post-race food/water before everyone is finished!
Overall though, I thought this was a great race, and I felt great running it the whole time! I’ll definitely be returning next year!

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