Geneva UNICEF Half-Marathon

I finally did it! Best thing about the half-marathon yesterday? First, that it's over. Second, that I can rest for a couple of weeks before getting back into running.

The weather was terrible on Saturday so we had no idea what would happen on Sunday for the race.  But we got really lucky because we got PERFECT weather -- not too warm, not too cold. And the rain held off until the moment I literally crossed the finish line.  There were actually moments when the sun was shining bright where it was actually a bit too hot.

I had my iPhone GPS to help me keep pace (since all the markers were in KM and I still get confused about that) and I was doing really well.  I think I was on pace to finish between 2:03 and 2:05.  At mile 9 I saw Jose and the kids and that was so exciting I had to hold the tears in (cause otherwise I get kind of an asthma attack while running if I'm too excited).  Then right after I saw them my iPhone died.  There went my music, and there went my pacing.  The last 4 miles were an absolute nightmare.  The lack of music made me want to quit every step of the way.  If it wasn't for the people actually yelling out your name (because your first name is on the bib) I would've totally quit.  There were moments when I had to walk -- which for me always makes it so much harder to get going again.  And there were moments where I literally wanted to throw up.  But then I saw Jose and the kids again with about 2 KM to go and all I kept saying to Jose was "how much more? how much more?".  I was so desperate.  He said "you'll break your record by about 2 minutes" -- funny thing my brain knew EXACTLY what he said but my heart said "You've got two minutes to finish this".  It was much more than 2 minutes it was probably more like 5-6, but I kept going till I finished the damn thing.  I got one of those quasi asthma attacks where I really thought I was going to pass out but thank God it went away before crossing the finish line and I was able to finish.  Net time was 2:06:59, so about 3 minutes better than my personal best.  Key lesson - forget the GPS if it's going to make the iPhone die and make you lose the music. Since I was running alone for me the music was soooo important to keep me going, and then I lost the music along with the GPS it was an unbearable loss.  Thank God for the crowd cause if I hadn't heard people actually say "ALLEZ ALLEZ IVETTE!" (go go go Ivette) I would've quit or just walked the last few miles.  But in the end I'm really proud of beating my personal best, and a little bit wiser. :)

You can see the times how I was doing really well in the first two measurements and then in the last part of the race I was just shot -- dropping from 213 to 279 in ranking.

Here's some video Jose shot on his Blackberry.  Having the kids in the crowd yelling "Mommy we love you" was priceless.  I wouldn't trade ANYTHING for that.  I also have to say that while the crowds here don't compare to the crowds in Cincinnati, the view running was absolutely breath-taking, I would highly recommend this race for anyone!  The lakeview was almost the worst just because we're used to seeing it all the time. The "countryside" with green fields, flower fields,  wine fields and God knows who else what was incredible.  And seeing the little dots of people running all along the countryside it was really a sight.