Bentonville Half Marathon Race Recap

On Saturday, Bentonville hosted its 3rd Bentonville Half Marathon and Running Festival. 

With over 1800 runners I was really surprised to find an easy parking space.  I got to the race site about an hour early which gave me plenty of time to get parked and meet up with friends.  I was a little disappointed to see that the race had just a few porta-potties set up.  I got in that line early and tried to not think about how I normally go to the bathroom 20 times before a race!

Weather this March has been warmer than normal and race morning was no exception.  Even though temps were warm I still saw a wide range of apparel choices from the other runners.  I went with some Nike half tights and my Nike Rush Running race team singlet.  This was my first time to wear the new singlet and it was actually much cooler than I thought it would be.  I also added my pink Headsweats visor since it was a sunny morning.

Rhonda and I before the race

The race was fairly uneventful...except for the fact that I mentally checked out of the race around mile 3.  It was warm and my right hip was feeling tweaked and I just didn't feel into the race.  I knew that pretty much at all times I was within one mile of the start/finish line and it was sooooo very tempting to get a DNF.  I've never had a DNF and thankfully my friends talked me out of that.  I joined up with Mandy and Pauline around mile 5 and we did a 4/1 run/walk ratio for the rest of the race.  I have no shame in admitting that I walked up the Crystal Bridges trail hill at mile 12.  It is a bugger of a hill and at the end of the race it is just rough!

It was fun to see so many people around the course and running the race.  Around mile 8 my friend Kyla was out spectating and ran a block with us.  I saw a former co-worker around mile 10 as he was spectating for someone on the course.  I got a kick out of 3 high school boys singing "Living on a Prayer" in a slightly off-key acappella style.  There were goofy signs all over the race course and then there were signs for the town's Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by Hersheys.  Unfortunately, there was no chocolate at the finish line:(

I definitely do Run for Chocolate!

Overall, my time was well within my range...not my best and not my worst.  The key accomplishment was that I finished my 15th half marathon.  I'm still a fan of the half marathon distance but maybe not a fan of the Bentonville course.  It always manages to kick my booty! I guess the medal was worth it...one of the coolest medals I've gotten so far!

Pauline, Mandy, and Me showing off our new hardware!