Diva St Augustine Beach Half Marathon Recap

For the second year in a row I ran the St Augustine Beach Diva Half Marathon. Yes just seven days after I completed the Space Coast Half Marathon I did the St Augustine Diva Half. I knew it was going to be a tough race, but whoa I was not expecting that.

My mom and I stayed just a couple blocks from the start/finish line. When we were getting out of the elevator, race morning, a woman came up and said it was raining. CRAP! I hate running in the rain. Luckily it was a small rain cell and it passed quickly. When we did leave the hotel it was misting. I got a lovely trash bag from the front desk.

Due to my lack of training, I knew it would be tough. My plan was to go slow. I always start a race too fast. They said go and I went, very slow. First two miles were tough. I thought I would walk .1 and run .9. At mile 3 I was toast. I actually thought about not finishing. I NEVER do that, but I'm too damn stubborn to quit. Mile 5 I was really done. I ended up walking almost all of mile 5. While I was walking and getting mad at myself for not training, I walked right past my hotel. Hell I even saw my car. That's when I knew I wasn't quitting. I had the perfect chance to quit and I didn't take it.

So you can guess how the rest of this race went. I walked, I ran, I wanted to cry. I did all of this until mile 12.1. Yup I had one mile left and I was DONE. It took all of my mental power to get me through that last mile. Knowing that it's just one mile should have been enough to hurry up and finish, but it wasn't. At mile 12.6 I finally just said screw it and started to run. I kept repeating over and over and over again, it's just a half mile, half mile, half mile. I probably drove everyone around me nuts, but it was the only way I could finish. Just before the 13 mile marker they give you a tiara and a boa. I grabbed mine and kept going. Spectators kept cheering me on saying go go go, it was all I could do to keep my legs moving. Everything from the waist down hurt. Some how I crossed finished line.

It's amazing how a shirtless fireman at the finish line can make you smile!!

This was the toughest half I've done in a very long time. I have a 5k this weekend and another half in two weeks. Hopefully it goes better than this one. AND hopefully my knee feels better again.

I love running the Diva races. They are so much fun, but running back to back half marathons is too much for me. I probably won't run it again next year. I say probably, cause if the medal next year is awesome, WELL.....