Weinstrasse Half Marathon 2010

Yesterday was a blast! The half marathon didn’t go that well, but the wine festival afterwards was beautiful and so much fun!

After having my family being in town traveling, then having to work on a 30 page paper once they left, my legs had not been out on the trails or streets running since my marathon in Paris last Sunday. I was a little worried about how they would do for this half marathon, but honestly, I had absolutely no interest in running this thing for time. I had stressed out too much over my marathon last weekend, and I didn’t want to have to deal with that much stress a week later AGAIN. So, I considered this run a “training” run with friends. Because of this, I was able to sleep the night before without the help of a sleeping aid which is a very good thing.

When we arrived, the expo only had a few people walking around, and it was chilly out. It was probably a good 32 degrees when we got there.

We stopped by the pick up our race packets and swag bag complete with at bottle of wine. SWEET!!

Then, we were off to the beer tent…

Oh, did you think we were going to start drinking at 7:30 in the morning? I’m not that crazy.

Eating some cake with chocolate bits in it with some water while listening to Johnny Cash in the beer tent was enough for me yesterday morning. I actually thought the music choice was pretty funny considering we are in Germany. It just made me smile.

We are ready to go!

So… don’t be mad at me. I didn’t bring my camera with me on the run. I was so upset with myself because it was freaking gorgeous. And, I was going pretty slow, so I totally could have taken some good pictures.

The race started off in a small German village that led out to acres upon acres of rolling hills of vineyards. It was breathtaking. The smell of honey filled the air. I could feel the sun kissing my skin with a slight breeze. It felt so good. Renee and I started off at a comfortable 8:30min/ mile pace for the first five miles. We passed an old man with a keyboard singing “Jail House Rock” by Elvis in a Germany accent. Hilarious! In the villages, people were lining the cobblestone streets cheering us on. Kids held out their hands for us to slap along the way. We heard, “Zuper, Zuper!!”

Then, my outer arch on my left foot started hurting. Badly. Really Badly. By mile 8, I was almost in tears. It was hurting that bad. My pace slowed. A. Lot. By mile 10, I no longer was noticing the beautiful scenery that we were running by. The last aid station that we passed had wine at it. It took everything in me not to give up right there, and drink with the locals cheering us on. Renee suggested that we walk. I said, “Hell, no. I’ve never walked for a race, and I’m not starting now.” Yes, I’m stubborn, even if my health is at stake. The last two miles through the vineyards were ran on the toes of my left foot and my entire right foot. I was limping and running. This was the hardest “training run” that I had been on. I just wanted the pain to stop. The only thing that kept me from walking was that I just wanted it to be over with. I was getting impatient. I felt relieved when I passed the finish line, and limped off in the search of water, beer and/or wine, and my friends.

Then, my blood sugar dropped before I could get any food in me, and I felt like I was going to faint. After getting some food in me (and freaking my friends out when all the blood drained from my face), we headed towards a wine festival in the area. I debated going straight home because of my foot, but a couple hours after running, it was feeling much better. Maybe it was the wine? I don’t know.

We sat underneath this beautiful tree for the rest of the afternoon. It had warmed up considerably from this morning.

I have no idea why my hand is on my waist…

Look! We did stretch a little. Granted, this was about 2 hours after the race…

We sort of went crazy with these flowers and put them in everyone’s hair. Even if people didn’t have that much hair and some Germans that we didn’t know…

Um, as you can see, I had had completely forgotten about my foot at this point. It was a great time, and I only wish my hubby was along for the festival. The wine was absolutely wonderful, and I will so miss these days in Germany when we leave in 2 and 1/2 months. ;(

This morning, among other things that were throbbing, my foot hurt, specifically my outer arch on my left foot. I guess I will have to take a few days off from running. No biggy. I’ve got a 56 mile bike ride this coming weekend, and I haven’t been on my bike since Tour de Flanders . Plus, I need to get my butt in the pool!

Onto some other news, this was my toe on Saturday (before the half marathon), a week after the Paris Marathon. In the interest of being, ahem, “honest” with my readers, I feel that you all should know what my battle wounds are after races. This was the only thing that happened to my toes from the marathon. It does not hurt at all.  The blister has completely healed, otherwise I would have taken a picture of it too. I consider myself pretty lucky because I’ve know people who have ran marathons and had their toenails fall off completely.  I know my toes are nasty. I have ignored them since Steve hasn’t been here. Actually, seeing this pic of my toe is making me want to give myself a pedi right now. Gross.

Any cool race swag that you have received from past races? Battle wounds?

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Tagged as: german festivals, races, running