I'm Running My Life…

On Saturday, I ran the MGC Long Run 15K in Columbia, SC.  This was the first for a couple of things.  First time running in a race this year and first time running a 15K.  I signed up for this race at the last minute (was very hesitant even at that point because the website indicated that late registration does not guarantee a t-shirt).  YEAH!!! I run for BLING (and in this case, since it was a 15K, I knew there would be no medal, so the t-shirt counted as BLING!!!)!!!  Well, I decided to sign up any way because the race was for a GREAT cause.  This was a great run for many different reasons….

About MGC:

McAngus Goudelock & Courie (MGC) is a metrics-driven law firm built specifically to meet the needs of insurance companies and their customers. MGC brought the MGC Long Run 15k|5k back to Columbia for a second year.  The road race began in 2014 in an effort to combine the firm’s wellness initiative with its community giving program.

Charity:

This year the race benefited the USO.  Having served in the military, I’m always glad to support organizations that support American troops and their families.  The USO is a private, non-profit organization, not a government agency. They rely on the generosity of donors and volunteers to make their mission possible.  The USO serves over 100,000 troops and military families across South Carolina.

Packet Pickup:

I headed over to Strictly Running to pick up my race packet on Thursday.  I figured if I got there on the first day, I may have a better chance at getting a t-shirt.  To my surprise, when I got inside, they were handing out nice bags (t-shirt inside). #WINNING

Pre-Race

I got my stuff all ready the night before the race and laid out every thing for in the morning. I was in the bed by 8:00 pm (yes on a Friday) and felt good about race day.

Race Day:

Got up before my alarm went off, ate half a peanut butter sandwich (two hours before race start) and put that EAGLE on my chest!!! I was READY!!

I was really looking forward to this race.  I met up with Team RWB for a group photo before the start of the race…

I also met up with some of my sole sistahs from BGR! Columbia…

Waiting for the race to start, I ran into another sole sistah from BGR! San Antonio, Texas.  We got Cocky to take a picture with us!!!

Let the running begin:

As you can see I had a lot of fun before the race taking pictures with the crew!!! My thoughts going into this race was to just treat it like a training run.  Meaning, warm-up at my CP (8’45) and then run miles 2-7 at my marathon pace (which has not really been defined but less than 8’30), followed by a cool down at 8’45.  Well, you know things never go as planned….I may have started out too fast, but I felt great.  The hills on this course really caused me to slow down. Note to self:  DO MORE HILL TRAINING and SQUATS.

Looking at my splits, you can probably guess where the hills were located throughout the course.  AND as I was approaching mile 8, I was greeted by the pretty site below.

I’m not going to lie, I was thinking about walking that thing.  I even stopped to adjust my music (music was not set on repeat) because I needed all I had to get me up that hill.  A lady, that I started out with in the race, tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘come on now, you’re my inspiration’.  I told her I was coming…had to get this music right (she didn’t hear me…she had on headphones LOL).  Ohh well, I made it up that hill…only to be greeted by another hill (which looked like twins in my opinion).  Two hills right before the end…WHERE THEY DO THAT AT??? Columbia, SC.  I managed to make it up both hills and slowly gained my composure.  Someone even caught a picture of me saying a little thank you 🙂 with my eyes wide shut (of course).

I didn’t stick to my initial plan going into this race but I think I did really well overall.  I finished in 1:18:04.  I’ll take that.

The after party:

I didn’t get any pictures of the food but man they had a nice spread.  Plenty of soda, water, fruit, granola bars and cookies.  I grabbed two bananas (I’m not a fan of eating fruit being served without gloves (WHAT!!!)) and a package of Kashi chocolate chia cookies (YUMMY).

With this being my first year running in this race, I felt the race was very well-organized.  Water and Gatorade was provided along the course at just the right points (even though I didn’t stop).   I’m getting in the habit of not repeating races, so I doubt I will run this race again.  I will however volunteer my services because it supports a great cause and was very well put together.

Do you repeat races?  If so, why?