South Shore Half Marathon

My training schedule for what was going to be my 2nd half marathon had me running 12 miles and coincidentally there just happened to be a half marathon going on the same day at my favorite spot to run - along the lakefront.  So I decided I would run this half marathon also as training for what will now be my 4th half marathon on 5/1/10.  I went out the night before and had a blast - dinner, drinks, hockey, concert.  So all in all I ended up eating poorly since all we could order was appetizers.  I had a drink which since I very rarely drink one drink has quite an effect on me.  I stayed up way too late.  I slept poorly.  I had a really hard time getting up in the morning.  I had a killer headache.  I really did not want to run anymore (not just the half but did not want to run at all - ever).  But I got up and got dressed and ate leftovers from the night before for breakfast.  Still did not want to go.  But I also wanted to meet some daily mile friends so I went - forgetting to bring a gel or any nutrition with me.  Got to the race and got my gloves and bib number.  It is a smaller race so no shirt or finishers medal.  I found some of the people I wanted to meet just before the race started.  All very nice people.  Being that this race was on a bike path - the whole way it was very slow for the 1st couple of miles and all throughout the whole race was hard to pass people.  I really enjoyed going slow but it was not until about mile 5 or 6 that I was starting to feel glad that I came out and ran.  I got to the halfway point and realized I was actually doing pretty good.  But it was not until about mile 10 that I realized if I pushed it a little I could actually PR.  But there was a hill so that would slow me down.  I got to the last mile and realized even without the gel I was feeling pretty good so I picked up the pace and ended up finishing at 2 hrs 6 min which is a PR by a min.  Totally surprised me but going forward I think I will try better with the nutrition because I almost did not make it to the race.  Bring on May 1st and I want to actually race that one with a goal of hopefully breaking the 2 hour mark.