Hollywood Half

My sister and I ran the Hollywood Half on Saturday, April 9th. We got up at 3:00am (nope, not a typo) to leave the house by 3:30am and allow for an hour drive with traffic, rain and parking. The race had a 6:00am start time so we had to rise and hustle.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any insight about the Expo as I missed it, being on a Friday night.  Between work and kids, my Sister and I had to divide and conquer.  She left work to pick up race packets and I left work to pick up kiddos, and we met back at her house for dinner and “early” bedtime which later turned to 11:00pm.  I had been planning on half a nights sleep by that time!

Laid out #FlatMelissa and hit the hay.

We lucked out on race morning, it rained all the way there on the drive but did stop for the race, so we were able to snap some pics at the start before we kicked off another 13.1.

I thought this was a good race, probably my only complaint would have been how they started it. This was the 5th Anniversary for this race, so I was surprised to see a bit of a chaotic start.

I was in Wave 1 and they started a 5k, 10k, and 13.1 (along with some strollers) all together in that wave.  That in itself was enough of a struggle for the start of any race, but for added fun, they put in a turn around .24 miles into the race — when runners hadn’t even spread out yet!  Took me about almost a mile of dodging to get out, but once I had elbow room, I was able to enjoy the race.

Felt good the whole race, except when I had 1.5 miles to go I started to get a calf cramp which never happens to me.  Knowing that I was on track to PR. I was in no way prepared to drop off.  Just tried to focus on something else (my breathing) and take it one step at a time.  Is there really any other option?!  Came through that finish line with a smile because I had hit that sub 1:40 goal rolling in at 1:39:11 (official time).  My sister also came parading through that finish line with a 4 minute PR!  Yeah!

Once the race was over it got really cold.  We had a little over a 1/2 mile walk back to the car and it was raining.  Eek!  We didn’t get to take advantage of the photo ops as weather did not allow but I did stop to squat down next to this star as we hurried back to the car.

Oh, and one more stop for a quick alleyway victory jump shot….you know, to keep that blood flowing and warm me up!

 

The 5th Anniversary edition medal was a beauty.  Loved adding this one to my collection for my 23rd Half Marathon!