St Louis 1/2 Marathon

finished 3:56:22

Drove over Saturday morning in the rain. I'm thinking to myself I sure hope the weather guys are right. I'd hate to walk in the rain (would not have happened). Went to the expo to get our race packets. Checked out the expo where I got a hat since I went off without my sunglasses. Then like any dedicated quilters we headed out to The Quilted Fox. A neat little quilt shop. Next year we'll go over on Friday if they're having a class that interests us on Saturday.

Check into the hotel and found out where to catch the metrolink to head downtown Saturday morning. We liked to never found it. First the gal at the hotel told us the wrong street. We drove and drove. Turned around and headed to the grocery to get some granola bars and oranges. We headed back down Kingshighway to try and find where we needed to turn to get to the metrolink. Then when we found it we couldn't turn left. Once we got to the metrolink we headed back to our main road to see where we could get on the road we needed to be on in the first place. Grab a bite to eat at the restaurant next to the hotel. Headed to bed around 9:00pm, which is way early for me. Got up at 5:00am. Headed out to drive over to catch the the metrolink downtown at 6:10 am. The start was 34* finishing in the mid 50's and breezy. It took us 10 minutes to get to the starting line. Once we got to the start line things went rather smooth. One thing I didn't take into accout was hills and there were plenty of them. The first 3 1/2 miles were an out and back. Miles 1-9 followed the same course as the marathoners. At about 9 1/2, the half marathoners (me) crossed to the other side of the blvd and continued on the same course as the marathoners. They passed out gu (sp?) at mile 23 mark, which I saved. I didn't use any during training so I didn't want to take a chance and end up with a stomache and not finished the race. About mile 11 or so my left big toenail starting hurting. It's still sore although not as bad. I finished the race in 3:56:22. Grab a bagel, pretzels, banana and water before we took the metrolink back to the car.We got back to the hotel and sat in the hot tub for 15 mintues. That felt great. Took a shower and headed home. I had to take my shoe off going home because my bigtoe was so sore. Later I took another hot soak. I noticed a clear watery liquid oozing from my toenail for a couple of days but that has stopped. It's still tender to touch it. Thank goodness for warm temps and a portable heater at work. I could wear my sandals. I'll look into getting some different shoes. I don't want a repeat with my toe.This was a very well organized event. Plenty of water and gatorade at every stop. Plenty of porta potties along the route. Cool wicking type long sleeve shirt and goody bags. I saw some nip guards at the Expo. I thought about getting Charles some but what the heck..Band-Aids will work just as well. Ask him about it the next time you see him. Very funny indeed.
As soon as my toe allows me, I'll begin walking again. This time I'll train smarter.

Dixie the half marathoner