Celebration Half Marathon {race recap}

Posted in Running by Kendra G.

The second race in my double race weekend last month was the Celebration half marathon in Celebration, Florida. This was my third time running this race so I knew what to expect going into Sunday’s race. I was really looking forward to the post-race festivities. What I did not expect was the cold and rainy forecast.

Thankfully, Heather picked us up a lightweight rain jacket to wear during the race, but I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of running 13.1 miles in a rain jacket. Once we got to Celebration, we sat in the car for as long as possible before heading to the start line. As we got out of the car, I knew the rain jacket was the only option.

The race was underway and we were off. Heather and I were focused during most of the race and didn’t talk much. The first six miles were really great and we averaged around 9:45 minutes per mile. Between miles 7 and 9, we hit the wooden boardwalks on the course. I knew these miles would be slower especially since the boardwalks were wet. My only concern at that point was to not fall.

The rest of the miles were around 10:30 minutes per mile with exception of mile 12 which was our slowest mile. Throughout the race, we ran through a nice little drizzle, but towards the end of the race, it was really raining. I was definitely ready to be done by that point and so did Heather. I kept encouraging Heather to keep running and to not walk. For the last half of a mile, we could see the finish line from the other side of the lake, but we were still so far away.

Our official time was 2:14.30 which was a PR for Heather! As soon as we finished, I put on my fleece pants and changed into a dry shirt.

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We headed over to the after party for some good food and drinks! It did not disappoint, but it was short lived because the rain continued to fall and we were all freezing. I think that I shivered for a good two hours after the race.

Aside from the rain, it was a great race and a great double race weekend!

29Jan2017

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

kenley and i woke up before the sun on saturday to run the lady track shack 5k! we had so much fun.

since we were so close to the science center, we stopped in to see the new astronaut exhibit.

the kids launched a space shuttle!

crosby was just chillin’.

our saturday night family movie was beauty and the beast. it had been a long time since i’ve seen it and it’s definitely still one of my favorites.

sunday morning came early and we were off to celebration for a cold and rainy race. we finished and it took the rest of the day to thaw out.

***

we had a good weekend, how was yours?

9Feb2016

Celebration Half Marathon {Race Recap}

Posted in Running by Kendra G.

Part two of my double race weekend was on Sunday with the Celebration Half Marathon! I also ran this race last year and absolutely fell in love with it so I knew I wanted to do it in 2016. [Again] I was stressing out about what to wear since it was supposed to be chilly at the start. I decided to stick with shorts, but kept my fleece pants on right up until the race started and I put everything in bag check. This ended up being such a great idea that I may have to use in the future. I stayed nice and toasty until it was time to run.

Heather and I headed down to Celebration around 5:15am with the hopes of finding a good parking spot, but we ended up having to walk a little bit to get to the downtown area. We met up with the other MRTT moms at the Grand Bohemian Hotel right across the lake from the start line. We took some pictures and made our way over to get ready to start the race.

The race started and we were on our way. We planned to stick with our 5 minute/45 second intervals since that is what we had been running for the last couple of months. As soon as we got onto the course, I immediately recognized everything and knew what to expect coming up. We ran through the beautiful neighborhoods, on the boardwalks, and around the lakes. In hindsight, we probably started out a little too fast considering we didn’t do much talking, but we were holding a very good pace for the first ten miles or so. We walked through all of the water stops and most of them were timed perfectly with our 45 second walk breaks. Around mile 7, I had an orange slice and it tasted so good that I probably could have eaten 20 of them, but it made me realize how hungry I really was. I didn’t eat nearly enough breakfast so by the end of the race I was starving and couldn’t even think about putting more water into my empty stomach. Lesson learned.

A little bit after mile 10, Heather started to hit the wall. I’d been there before, I knew exactly how she was feeling. I kept encouraging her to keep moving forward until the end of the race, knowing very well that she probably wanted to punch me in the face, but I figured that was the risk I’d take. I had warned her that the very last part of the race was horrible since we come off the boardwalk and see the finish line, but it is on the opposite side of the lake from where we were. We were so close, yet so far! We crossed the finish line at 2:19:44 which was a PR for Heather and another sub 2:20 race for me!

She couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in our finish time because she wanted to both of us to get a PR, but I wasn’t disappointed at all. We did great, but also have room for improvement, and I am happy with that!

Official results & pace:

1659 — Kendra Gilbertson — 31 — Orlando — FL — 2:19:44 — 10:40

Finally, it was time for the best part — the after party! We enjoyed great food from all of the restaurants in Celebration, and of course, enjoyed our hard-earned free beers! Greg and the kids came down as well, so I saw them as soon as we crossed the finish line, which always makes a race so much better!

Until next year, Celebration!

31Jan2016

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

friday giggles.

saturday morning sunrise over orlando before the lady track shack 5k.

it was a chilly morning, but great weather for a nice and easy 3.1 miles to warm up before sunday.

saturday afternoon, we headed down to celebration to pick up my race packet for sunday. we found a new park and were pretty much obsessed.

she climbed and climbed and climbed the entire time we were there.

swinging with friends!

crosby’s signature phrase right now “ta-daaaaaaa”!

this morning, we ran the celebration half-marathon! it was such a great race. greg and the kids came down to celebrate afterwards and we hit up the same park again. the rest of the day was spent lounging and grocery shopping.

***

we had a great last weekend of january. how is tomorrow february already?
how was your weekend?

3Feb2015

Celebration Half Marathon {Race Recap}

Posted in Running by Kendra G.

I completed my fourth half marathon on Sunday, January 25th! I ran the Celebration Half Marathon which was held in Celebration, Florida. This was the first race I have ran where there was an expo beforehand and there was also a full marathon taking place, so there was all sorts of new excitement happening. Sally and I headed down to the expo on Saturday morning to pick up our race packet (race bib, shirt, hat, goodies, coupons, etc.). We also browsed the booths that were set up and did a little bit of window shopping. We both picked up some race day fuel to use the next day.

Sunday morning, my alarm went off at 3:45am and I got ready. I met a group of ladies down at the YMCA to carpool down to Celebration. It was FREEZING. Maybe not freezing, but pretty darn close to it (which is not typical for us Floridians). The temperature was in the low 40s when we got down to Celebration, so we went into the Grand Bohemian hotel to stay warm. It was SO cozy in there, I didn’t want to leave.

Since it was so cold, I was really stressing out about what I was going to wear on race day. I wanted to be warm, but I didn’t want to get too warm too fast and I really didn’t want to have to take off any layers because I didn’t want to have to run with them. I opted for long tights with shorts over them; a short sleeve shirt under a long sleeve shirt (with thumb holes so it covered some of my hands); and my visor with an ear warmer over it. I was legitimately shivering until we started running. Since it was so cold out, I chose not to run with my Camelbak, which usually has water and Cocogo in it. There were plenty of water stops along the course which I figured would be good since it wasn’t going to be hot out.

We made our way over to the start line for a 7:00am start. I started to warm up a little bit only because I was standing in a mass of people. Right before we started, I got super nervous and was bouncing all over the place. Our goal was to beat 2 hours and 30 minutes, which happened to be our Lake Nona 13.1 time. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it done at the OUC Half Marathon, so we were determined this time around. Our plan was to run for 5 minutes and walk for 1 minute, but intentionally keep our walks at a brisk walk so we didn’t lose too much time.

The entire race course was beautiful (see above) and ran through the entire town of Celebration. We were mostly commenting on how beautiful the houses were. The miles were passing by and at 45 minutes I ate my first GU (Caramel Macchiato – yum!) for some fuel. Knowing that I didn’t have my Camelbak with electrolytes in it, I was determined to have both of my GUs at 45 minutes and an hour and a half whether I felt like I needed them or not. I had a bagel at 4:45am, so the last thing I wanted to do was be starving at the end of the race. I took water whenever the water stops coincided with our walks, which worked out very well. Since it was so cold, I didn’t feel like I was sweating a lot, even though I know I was. I had my second GU (Salted Caramel – also yum!) right around an hour and 40 minutes. We still had about 50 minutes left until we were hitting the 2:30 mark, so I forced myself to eat it. I wanted to make sure I had enough energy the whole race. Overall, I felt great throughout the race. In previous races, I felt like I hit the wall around the 10 mile mark, but I made a comment this race about how good I felt. Don’t get me wrong, I felt like I had just ran 10 miles, but I also was a in good place to do the last 3.1. Mile 12 was the hardest. I knew we were close to being done but I was also getting worried about our time. We picked up the pace a little bit so our chatting with each other completely stopped. We were in the zone. My watch buzzed to tell us to walk for one minute while we were getting close to the end, but we decided to just finish. The last part of the race was around a lake so we could see the finish line in the center of town for a while. I felt like it was much closer than it really was. We finished strong, almost sprinting, so I was almost completely out of breath. While trying to catch my breath, I grabbed a water and a banana and saw Greg and the kids standing on the other side of table directly behind the finish line. I made my way over to them (still panting) and started crying. We finished in 2:26! Greg kept asking what was wrong but I was STILL trying to catch my breath and couldn’t get any words out. The poor guy thought we did horrible or I was injured or something. None of the above, thankfully!

My official time and pace:

85   902  1606 Kendra Gilbertson        30 Orlando              FL 2:26:17 11:10

We made our way back over to the after party (which I will add was amazing!). We were given a food card as we crossed the finish line. Most of the restaurants in Celebration had a tent and we could get food and drinks from each tent. There was a wide array of food: pizza, egg rolls, rice & beans, rolls, as well as beer, mimosas, and coffee. Kayla and I also got a massage, which was awesome. The weather was nice, so we hung out for a bit before heading back home.

The Celebration Half Marathon was a fabulous race start to finish. The swag bag was great and included a Raw Threads shirt (which I am now obsessed with). The course was beautiful, flat, and scenic. The after party was the best I’ve been to so far and the medal was so pretty! I will definitely be running this race again next year.