Arizona Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon Relay!

The Rock N’ Roll Marathon series are some of the most popular about races – they are in cities all over and for Arizona in particular, it’s one of the most talked about events. With my Disney half marathon falling just 2 short weeks after the AZ RnR, I knew it would be ridiculous to try to run it….that is until Carolyn mentioned running the relay. I immediately knew it would be a perfect way to get to participate in the race!

We ended up going with “Team Lava: Not So Fast But Pretty Damn Hot” as our team name (awesome, right!?) and set out to make some matching shirts to display our lovely name. We ended up just getting it screen printed onto a couple of athletic shirts we picked up from target. I got some ribbon and made us some red sparkly non-slip headbands to wear as part of our outfits (plus a couple to Ari and Kara to wear as well!). Overall our outfits came together nicely! I also put together a kick awesome 90’s playlist for my run (I’m also going to use it for my Disney Half), which I plan to share on the blog with y’all sometime in the near future!

On Saturday I attended the expo with Carolyn, Kara, Ari and her husband Steve (you can read about it here!). And left with a lovely bag packed with stuff!

The race was divided up into to legs; the first was 6.2 miles (a 10k) and the second was 6.9 miles. I had initially intended on running the longer half so I could get some more mileage in before my half, but once I saw the course elevation I decided that wasn’t the best idea. Shortly after going the start of the second leg the course went downhill – not my strong suit and I didn’t want to end up with another injury. Lucky for me, my relay partner is amazing and she said she’d run the second leg! PS: Carolyn – you are so ready to run your first half!

The morning of the race Carolyn, Lance and I met up with Ari and her gang to say hello and wish each other good luck before going into our corrals.

Just chatting away with my friend in the pink shirt

The relay participants we able to chose their corral number, but when race morning rolled around I still wasn’t sure where exactly I wanted to start. I ended up making a quick decision and jumped into number 7 (which was a 9:09/mile pace). I knew it was little faster than my normal pace, but I tend to sprint like a mad woman from the get go and zig zag around people, so I figured this way I wouldn’t have to do that. Shortly after getting into my corral a woman came and stood next to me saying she was glad that there was someone else with a relay stick. We chatted for close to 30 minutes since we were waiting for our turn to start – she was incredibly inspirational and does a ton of running, so I figured I would try to stay close behind her if I could :)

Once we passed the start she and I kept chatting while we ran (photo documented by Ari’s husband Steve, who I didn’t realize was there until the last second). We ran next to each other and talked for the first two miles, but we both got a little quiet around mile 3. Shortly after passing the 3rd mile my wonderful new friend stopped to walk for a minute, I waved goodbye and kept on truckin. I missed having my buddy but I still felt good and knew that if I walked now, then I would continue to do so until the end of the race. I just kept running, even though I kinda wanted to walk, my breathing was just fine and I knew there was no reason for it and I just needed to do it (and I also had to pee from all the water I drank before the start so I wanted to finish so that is partially to blame).

Here’s Carolyn bringing it home at mile 13 for Team Lava!

This was also my first time wearing a watch for a race – I became slightly obsessed with checking my time, which was also a reason for my drive to not walk. The miles flew by pretty quickly and the course had plenty of water/Gatorade stations which helped a ton. At times it was a little difficult to navigate through the sea of people running at all times, but I was able to stay in the middle of the road almost the entire time.

Here’s Ari about to finish her first half marathon in 2:13:58

When mile 6 rolled around I wanted to finish strong. I rounded the corner and saw the relay station; right then I knew I had to sprint to finish out the race. And boy did I run fast – almost smashing into Carolyn as she was waiting to get the drumstick. Before I knew it she was off – and headed towards the finish!

Carolyn ready to cross the finish line

Lance and I took the shuttle back to the start/finish line to wait for everyone – I am so glad he was there because there was some serious confusion about where the busses picked up and dropped off (some poor organization by the RnR people). Once arriving at the finish there were TONS of people – it was packed. I wasn’t really sure when Carolyn would come across, but luckily we managed to find her in the crowds :) Shortly after we reunited with Ari and Kara too.

Team Lava: Not So Fast But Pretty Damn Hot!

I was extremely anxious to see the race results since I knew we finished in under 2:30 – and I was pretty sure I had beat my –previous 10k PR. Here were our final times:

Team Lava finish time: 2:17:42

My 6.2 leg (10k): 54:59

Carolyn’s 6.9 leg: 1:22:43

This was a new 10k PR for me!! With an average mile of 8:52 – whaaat?! under a 9:00/mile..that’s pure insanity. I had lots of fun running this race and I felt great doing it!

It was a great weekend getting to run with all these lovely ladies – and it was full of successful distances/times for all of us! Here are a few recaps from the other ladies:

Ari’s Menu

Girl Meets Happy

PS – All of the “Seeing Flashes” photographs are courtesy of Ari’s husband Steve – he took some really great post race photo’s of us girls!