I've got the blues, Rock Your Socks race report.

  I made a pace band last night and packed my handy dandy Running Chicks tote bag with my handheld, Road ID, phone and energy gels preparing to run Tonia's Rock Your Socks virtual half marathon today. Hell, I even painted my toenails a rockin blue for the event!  Since my shoes are my feet at least I matched!! I made my pace band with the start at 8:00 and this proved to be an excellent incentive to get out there earlier.

Suzanne over at Zensah sent me some really sweet running gear and I used the bright blue leg sleeves as my mandatory socks for the race.  Being a barefoot runner I have to use the sleeves!  

These are my tootsies and sweet sleeves about a minute before my 8:00 start time. Notice that I match!

Here is my pace band although the photo was taken after the race. It was made for 1:54. 

I started out with a great pace of 8 minute miles and after about the first loop discovered that I was not going to be able to hold it.

I had to stop to use the bathroom and that really took my momentum and I wasn't able to get it back.

I could tell that I was still tired from my 23 miles last weekdend. As an aside, I google mapped the route and discovered that it was 23.25!  

As I was about to cross the bridge starting my first loop, I saw this sign.

Yep race in progress!  It was nice to think that it was there just for me! This photo was taken at the end of my run after the Cubs 5 mile race had started but it was a lovely thing to see first thing on my virtual run.

Here is part of the path that I ran on. Grays lake is a lovely place to run. I parked in my usual spot and was able to grab shot blocks and gels. Today was a Clif day.  I ate a Razz and Vanilla gel on the sixes and Black Cherry Shot Blocks on the twos. I only had one nuun tab with me and the rest was water. I used the Margarita Shot Blocks that have added sodium later in my run to make up for that. It worked really well and the flavor was nice considering it is usually my least favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean. 

I got to see the old Asian runner guy that smiles and waves and likes to chat miles for the day. That dude can move! He is quite fast and happy, Love it! I say he is old but its hard to tell his age. I would guess in his 50's but he could be much older and just looks great. 

I saw the fattest bull dog I have ever seen in my life and a similarly rotund  looking woman walking him. I saw several Springer Spaniels and a Pug today too.  Minor distractions unlike the major one I longed for to take my mind off of my body that just would not go any faster despite feeling like I could go fast. It was just not happening.

It was humid and felt more like swimming than running and cloudy which was nice not to have the sun beating down on me.

Right at the end of my race was when I saw the lead racers of the Cubs 5 miler coming towards me. It was awesome motivation to finish strong! 

Here I am at the end. I did the 13.1 in 2:13.  I had planned to do a 1:55 and my last half time was 2:08. 

The upside, I learned more about how I run and how to plan my aide when I am running alone. I also didn't shell out a ridiculous amount of money to participate!
When I do long runs it seems like I start getting stuck at about 13 miles so it was tough at the end for sure. I managed to not say screw it and go home so theres always that!

I love the butterflies at Grays lake. This was taken on my way over to cheer on the 5 mile racers.

The oldest spawn took this when I got home.

Here are the feet! Dirty but feeling great. I have a bit of a sore heel on my right side. My right side is pesky and always seems to have the aches and pains. Nothing a day or two of rest won't cure.

Here I am post shower feeling great still.

Check out my sweet new shirt!  Patrick over at The Road sent me this. If you go to his blog and share some love and get to know him he might send you a shirt too!  He seems like a nice guy that just rolls like that. 

So thats my race report mostly in pictures. I have had a very sleepy two year old on my lap so typing is fleeting now.

Don't forget to check out my CEP Compression giveaway! Also check out my sidebar for a list of other giveaways going on around the blogsphere!