#23 Georgia : REDEMPTION

http://www.savannahraces.com/hot-cocoa-half-marathon10k

Love Chocolate half marathon and 10k Savannah, Georgia. February 11,2017

Time: 2:03:08

Overall: 74/167 half marathoners

Female 34-44: 12/43

Total:499 people in race(1/2 and 10k)

HIGHLIGHTS:

1.This should have been #24 but life and situations happen beyond your control. Oh well. Before leaving for #23,  Boston was hit by a Nor'easter on Thursday. Flights were being canceled left and right. I was worried about flying out on Friday. My original flight was canceled but I had to reroute myself. 

My thoughts: If I could just get to Georgia then I could drive. It would be like #22 when I had flown into Charlotte, North Carolina and drove three hours to Charleston, South Carolina.

2. Boston- JFK- Savannah my new route. I made it there...YES by11:35am on Friday. I called my cousin when I got to JFK to let her know if I would make my connecting flight. She was on stand-by. Since Boston-JFK flight was delayed by an hour there was a 16 group that would miss their flight to the Dominican Republic. With JFK, you have to take a connector shuttle to get to the other terminals. I originally had to do that. I was ready to run. Luckily for me, my Savannah connector was the next gate. Thank You Jesus.

3. Family love happiness. My cousin Anita came to support me for state #22 and she would be my #23 also.

4. This was my first suburban race. I wasn't running in the city of Savannah but the burbs. And all the monies went to charities. This was also a small race under 500 people. I liked the theme of Love Chocolate Run . There was plenty of chocolate, fruit, girl scout cookies, and even hot chocolate in 65 degree weather.

5. The night before my cousins took me to Rudy Lee's for dinner. My Friday night outing. We ate, drank, and got our dancing on. So much fun. Might not have been a good thing to do before my race....oh well.

6. It may have been in the 20s in Boston but it was in the mid-60s on race day and it was going to climb to the 70's. Normally that would be fine but the race didn't start until 9am. Which is the latest start that I've ever had, to date.  It was only going to get hotter.

7. Meet BGR's from Savannah which warmed my heart. One women who I met told me she started running a year ago and has lost over 100 lbs. This was her 4th half marathon.

8. Being that we ran in the suburbs there was no one to cheer on the route. It was very quiet.

9. I tried to stay ahead of the 2:00 pacer and behind the 1:45 pacer. What I didn't prepare for properly was the damn heat. It felt like it was in the 70s. Blue sky, no shade and the sun beaming down on me. This cold weather runner was about to die. Unlike #22, we started at least at 7am , similar weather conditions. At 9 am it just got hotter as the hours went on

10.  Around mile 5 I was getting slower. I could see and hear the 2:00 pacer behind me. She kept talking to everyone. I tried to out run her because her voice was annoying the piss out of me but I couldn't. She just got louder and louder. I had to let her and her crew pass me. It wasn't smart to try to out run someone in weather conditions I didn't prepare for.  Lesson learned.

11. Before I got to the 6 mile turn, I saw a black women with the 1:45 pace pack. She looked and smile at me and I did the same. Just as she did that for me, when I made my 6 mile marker turn I saw 4 black women running before the turn. I gave them a smile and thumbs up to keep it up. They also gave me encouragement as well

12. I was in suburban hell. There was nothing to look at. I like looking at different things when I run. It was house after house, after house, after house.

13. So happy to see my cousin as I was coming down the finish line. This was her first full race to see from start to finish. When I saw her Ikicked it to finish. I knew I would not be under two hours but that I was alright. I had to finish this damn hot race.

14. It was small but there was so much support. I was so happy to see a nice size of black women running. Looking at the race home page, I didn't see any black or brown faces. I assumed that I would be the only one but I wasn't.

15. This was a true gangster runner in and out. Left Boston at 7am on Friday , ran race on Saturday and flew out at 4:25pm on Saturday to come by to the cold New England Weather