This Half Marathon is Really Gonna Happen

The reality of this race on Sunday just hit me like a ton of bricks...  Gob-smacked me, in fact.

Just after lunch we drove to the running store that is the major sponsor of the race, to pick up our bibs and goodie packets.

There was a beautiful Asics shirt and a pair of cool little Asics socks for each of us... along with our race bibs and some pins. 

There are 2 strips on the back of the bib that have timing chips in them... apparently makes for easier and more accurate splits and results, so as long as I wear it, and don't lose it, I will get an official race time when it is all over with.

The shirts are lovely.  The women's shirt is a slim fitting style with curvy lines in a beautiful aqua, which is my favorite color, you must know by now... and the men's is a lovely bright blue... boxy style, longer in the back.  Very nice.  (Don't worry, we will not embarrass ourselves and wear them on Sunday, at least till we get home and have showered.  We MAY wear them to our own private little Sunday night celebration... and so not to jinx anything, I haven't even tried it on or taken the tags off yet.)

So, we found out about parking and some other details... like water stations, washrooms, and the like.

This is the 8th year for this event and they have added a 5k race to it this year.  They are going to start the 5k runners and the half marathon runners at the same time, and the routes start out the same and then the 5k veers off.  It sounds confusing to me and I have looked at the maps... and I have decided that we are going to use the early start option.

Instead of starting at 8 a.m. with the masses, we are going to start at 7 a.m. with the slower runners and walkers.  I had been keeping this option open in the back of my mind since we first registered for this race last October.  They suggest you can avail yourself of the early start if you will take longer than 2-1/2 hours to complete the half.... and I likely will, so we will start at 7 a.m. and see how it all goes. 

I will be more comfortable in a start with fewer people as this is my first real race and that 'crowd' thing intimidates me.   For the first time, this will be better.

So, today I am making lists... breakfast before the race, items for the race: fuel/hydration, clothing from head to toe, extras - camera, sunglasses, sunblock for lips, kleenex... and items for after: clothing, towels, recovery fuel/hydration, keys, money, drivers licence.

It is going to happen!  I am going to run a half marathon on Sunday morning and earn my beautiful sea blue shirt.  Hurray!