I registered for the PF Chang’s Rock’n’Roll Arizona half marathon back before we went to NYC. After NYC, I planned on upgrading it to the full marathon for it to be my first full. About a month ago, my dream of running my first full marathon with a couple of my good friends had to be sidelined again due to a hamstring injury.

I kept thinking that I wouldn’t have run the race if I hadn’t already registered, but I am SO glad I did!! Injured and all, I had an amazing time! I also got to watch two amazing ladies and fellow AZ Bloggers cross the finish line of their first full marathon!! Check out Ari’s recap here. I think I was more excited about them crossing the finish line than I was about me running a halfway decent half marathon!

(Taken by Ari’s hubby Steve—doesn’t he take amazing pics!!)

I got up early Sunday morning, threw on my new BTB tank with a running skirt and some calf sleeves, wrapped my hammy with a heating pad and was off to pick up Devin.

We got to the race with about 25 minutes to spare, hit the porta potties, and got into our corral. We were in corral 11. (At least I was, and Devin, who has the patience of a saint and Mother Theresa combined, started with me and stayed with me the whole race!)

After the national anthem, and the first 10 corrals, we were off to the races!

I felt pretty good at about a 10:30 pace for the first 3-4 miles. Around mile 4, my hamstring started bothering me. I felt a small sharp pain in the middle of my hamstring, and knew I was in trouble. I kept running and slowing down. Every time I looked at my Garmin, I would get pissed at what I saw. I needed to slow down, though! I decided to just turn off my Garmin and stop torturing myself sometime during mile 4. It was the perfect decision. I stopped worrying about pace and started to pay attention to how I was feeling. After that, I settled into a pace that felt good and didn’t hurt.

As we got to the top of the incline that was the entire length of Thomas Rd we ran on, we turned south and ran into Papago Park by the Buttes. It was beautiful! After running through this area for a for a bit, we ran by Lori and Jeff-my physical therapist and her man. It was SO awesome to see people I knew cheering for me!! After that, we only had about a mile and a half left to go. They had some really cool signs set up with inspirational quotes and sayings that were actually really motivating! They were set up at the perfect spot-just when I needed to have a little bit of a mental boost. The people at the aid stations were holding signs as well. My favorite one was “Chuck Norris never ran a half marathon!!” SO great! Made me laugh out loud .

As we crossed the bridge on Mill Ave, there were tons of spectators cheering and holding signs on the other side, and all the way until we got to the finish line. It was such a cool atmosphere!

When we crossed the finish line, I was relieved to be done. It wasn’t my best race by a long shot, but I finished strong, and hopefully didn’t do anymore hamstring damage. I chugged some water and headed straight for the medical station to get some ice. Then, I headed back towards the finish line to wait for Coach Susan to cross the finish line. She came across (the marathon side) at just under 3 hours. Amazing. An inspiration. Wow! Soon to follow were Samantha Meyerhoff (also an amazing inspiration!), Carrie, and Kelly (both BTB’ers.) It is so cool to be part of such an amazingly talented team of runners! (I think I said that last week in a post, too!)

We then headed over to get some Rockin’ Refuel for recovery and a banana because I was hungry! We checked out the family reunion area, then headed back to the finish line to wait for Ari and Nicole. When they crossed, I jumped up and down and screamed like a proud mom! I am so proud of them both for becoming marathoners, and hope to be right there with them as a marathoner soon!

What an amazing day! I will definitely run RNRAZ again next year if I can.I really enjoyed it. In fact, I would travel to another city to run another RNR race. If you are looking for a good race, definitely check out RNR!

After I got home and relaxed a little bit, I got on Facebook to play around like I always do. I saw Rockin’ Refuel had posted something about RNRAZ, so I commented on their post. I said something along the lines of “I am so excited that I auditioned for Team Refuel at the RNRAZ expo and I hope I make the team.”

I got a response! They said that it was so great that I am a supporter of RR and that they would love to send me a goody bag with a Rockin’ Refuel Race Jersey and some other swag and coupons. How cool was that?!! So I messaged them my info, and they sent me an awesome running shirt and some coupons for RR, and said they would love for me to be a part of their team! So I am on Team Rockin’ Refuel!!!! They are also supporting a giveaway for my readers!!!! Could I be anymore excited!??

So, Rockin’ Refuel will provide the winner of my giveaway with a Rockin’ Refuel T-shirt and a case of their non-refrigerated Rockin’ Refuel Intense Recovery.

All you have to do is like Rockin’ Refuel and Pugmamastace  on Facebook, and follow us both on Twitter (if you Tweet.) Leave a comment below letting me know you have done both, and tell me if you like chocolate milk as a post workout recovery drink! The cool part is that I have always loved RR, and get it whenever I can find it at the store after my long runs and intense workouts. What a great opportunity to help promote a product that I actually love and use myself!

Did you run PF Chang’s this past weekend?

Full or half marathon?

Have you run Ragnar? Tell me all about it!!

Happy Trails!

Stacey

I was given the product mentioned above, and Rockin’ Refuel is providing product for this giveaway. I am not otherwise being compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.