Midnight Sun Half Marathon - Iceland

I'm writing about this one a few days late... I think I'm finally over my jet lag!

My husband and I have been wanting to visit Iceland for a very long time. We finally decided that 2018 was the year and of course I had to see if there were any interesting half marathons that we could do. I found the Midnight Sun Half Marathon and thought it sounded unique. Plus, I've never done an evening half marathon. We flew into Iceland a week before the race and toured waterfalls, glaciers, ice caves, and fjords along the ring road.

I didn't want to do this race... it was raining and cold, plus I was hungry and tired. Never a good mix. I kept trying to talk Josh into just doing the 10k race, but he kept pushing us to do the half. The race starts at 9 pm and I honestly just wanted to be in bed. But I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't do it.

I also didn't know what to expect about the race course. I read from the race website that it was challenging and demanding. Hmmmm, yah, that scared me too. Well, after the first mile I realized that I overdressed. We were running on road and then we moved to a biking/walking path. It was lovely!! We were running alongside small waterfalls and the lupine.

The course had rolling hills, and there were some pretty steep climbs between miles 3 and 7. Also, at one point it got pretty windy and I was so cold. But we also had an amazing downhill between miles 7 and 8. Then it was relatively tame, but I was so so hungry and so so tired. At one point, I was running with my eyes shut.

I pretty much hit the wall around mile 11. My right hip flexor was bugging me and I also started to feel nauseous. I finished with a time of 2:10:39. I'll take it. I walked quite a bit those last two miles. As I was coming towards the finish line, I heard Bonnie Tyler singing Total Eclipse of the Heart. There was a music festival going on close to the finish line and I thought that was pretty fun. I wish I could have enjoyed the finish area better, but I wasn't feeling so hot. I'm not sure if I just allowed myself to get too hungry or if I was dehydrated, but I was dry heaving. They give you free entry to the geothermal pool close to the finish line, and I'm bummed that we didn't get to go. Anyways, this is the most beautiful course that I've ever run. I also love some rolling hills! Just wish that I put more food in my belly before the race started!!

Summer Running

Make Tracks Through the Zoo: I signed up for this race because we got to run through the zoo! Right before the race started, the weather looked pretty threatening. Thunder and lightning. The rain cleared before the start, but then it was super humid. And the race had some mega hills. I enjoyed running through the zoo; the giraffes were very curious! I finished the 5k with a time of 26:58, a pace of 8:41. I also placed 14/283 in my division F 35-39!

KT82: This was my third time running the KT82 relay and it's a full day! It starts with a 4:35 am pick up and ends with a 10:30 pm drop off. The race took about 13.5 hours to complete. I had three legs and ran 13.35 miles total.

Leg 1 - I started out way too fast. My first mile was a 7:52. 3.2 miles total with an 8:11 pace.

Leg 2 - It had just started to rain and it actually felt cold. The first three miles were on the Katy and then we entered single track in Klondike Park. I would have liked the single track more if it wasn't muddy. I HATE MUD. 

1-8:20. 

2-8:21. 

3-8:41. 

4-14.3. HAHAHAH. I was very cautious on that single track. 

The last 0.93 was pretty much a steep downhill. IT HURT. 4.93 miles total with a 10:05 pace. 

Leg 3 - The last leg. I was happy that it was the last leg, but my legs were dead and I was tired. I played mental games and just tried to get through each mile. I ran through the first three miles and then I took a 10 second walking break when I hit the third, fourth, and fifth miles. I thought this leg was six miles and I told myself I'd run/walk that last mile. I knew at the end of my leg we'd exit the Katy and talk a steep uphill to the Lost Creek Winery. To my surprise (and happiness), this leg was actually only 5.2 miles!! I was so grateful when I saw people exiting the Katy at that fifth mile. 5.22 miles with a 9:22 pace. 

The 82 Problems but the KT Ain't One team finished with a time of 13:28:11. Another fun year with an awesome team!

Next Race: Next stop... Iceland!!