1/2 Marathon Domination

Monday morning here in Mendoza. My legs feel like tree trunks and my hamstrings are taut as a sling shot ready to launch. This made for an interestingly pathetic attempt at pilates this morning. My Spanish is not advanced enough to explain these aliments so I did my best and laughed when everyone else's legs were straight and my legs just weren't. But all this is well deserved because yesterday Todd and I both ran the first ever Mendoza 1/2 Marathon. And I believe we both kicked arse.

I am happy to brag that I placed 18th out of 70 women and 6th in my age group of 18 to 29yr old females with a time of 1:52:27. Yes, you read that correctly, under 2 hours. And Todd did just as well, even with a pulled back muscle. His time of 1:53:47 placed him at 208 out of 475 men. I am so proud of us. I knew we could do it, but as I passed the 5k marker I had my doubts.

The route was intense. You can't run in Mendoza without hitting a hill. And they made sure that we hit most of them. The overall race gained 1,365ft. (For reference, the KC Hospital Hill run only gains 377ft.) Climaxing at the top of the Cerro de la Gloria. I was fully prepared to walk if need be, but in the end my stubbornness didn't allow that to happen. I made it to the top without stopping. I do think the profanities that flew from my mouth pushed me up the hill little by little. Whatever works.

The course was nice, but I was happy to cross the finish line. I gladly accepted my medal. Ok, really I was pumped to get a medal, super cool. As I received my allocation of one bottle of water and one gaterade, I began to wonder where Todd was. We had decided to run seperately since he didn't know how his back would fare. Just as I got settle in on the side to wait, there he was, crossing the finish line with a strong stride. It was excellent. We immediately started exchanging race stories about the runners that bothered us along the way, those that passed us but were passed by us in the end, the heavy akward breathers, etc. It was pretty funny. Especially watching Todd mimic the belly forward runner. As awkward and funny as you can imagine.

We wondered over to the grass for some much needed stretching. Luckily, there was a bit of entertainment as the MC led the crowd in some post run dancing. Only in Argentina would they dance it out after such a run. Gotta love it. We hung around to see the awards ceremony, but then it was time to roll home.

Once home, it was over. We did manage a walk to the store to grab supplies for the day, but after that, nada. I believe I spent the rest of the day horizontally reclined. Indulging in unhealthy food and loving it. Todd described it as the hung over munchies minus the guilt since we had run a half marathon. Perfect. We had a great day, conquered our first 1/2 marathon, and proved that we can do anything we set our minds to.

In case you are interested, here is a link to the course map. http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3651/circuitommvmar10.jpg