Team Loco Half Marathon

The Team Loco Half Marathon is a race that got started one year that a few Team Loco members were planning to use St. Judes to qualify for Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs, but the race had to cancel due to a severe winter storm (severe for our area of the nation). Team Loco was just a bunch of runners who loved to have fun and started this unofficial group where we celebrated each other and never left anyone behind. The race is a loop-de-loop style that takes place on Tucker Creek Trail in Conway, Arkansas. This is a paved trail running through the city. It is a very laid back race where most everyone knows everyone and the aid stations are about every five miles, full of local runners/walkers. There is a generous eight-hour limit as Papa Loco was a walker and this race has always made sure it was walker friendly. Papa Loco was one of the team loco members that was planning to maniac at St. Judes. This year I ran this race to support my friend and in memory of his dad, Papa Loco. I was just running to run it for them. I decided a couple of miles in that I would just move my legs and enjoy the race. I had no idea what the outcome was going to be. 

By three miles in I knew I had started way fast and would not last at that pace. I was running an average of 9:25 miles and I do not do that. If I hit 10:00 miles I'm usually very excited. By the time I hit the 10k distance I realized I would have PR'd that distance by about 45 seconds. That was huge for me as I've never gotten close to the one hour mark for a 10k since I PR'd 59:59 in 2014 or 2015. At this point, I still felt really good and decided to just see how long I could keep up what I was doing. I also typically run an interval for long runs and had decided to just walk when I wanted instead of having set intervals for this race. 

This race was a blast as always. It is an out-and-back which you do either five or ten times depending on which race you are running. I hate out-and-backs and I hate loops. The joy of it though is I knew people at every aid station and they are some of the most fun people I've met. I met someone from Philly that I actually stayed with for several miles. The aid stations are always a party so you're getting to party every half mile. They were stocked with all the favorite goodies runners enjoy including shots of beer and shots of fireball. There were also all the normal potato chips, pickles, pretzels, etc. Oh and water and Gatorade of course. 

Once I finished the third loop and was still feeling great, still keeping this insane-for-me pace, I found a new strength to see what I was capable of. I decided in the middle of my fourth loop that it had gotten hot and if I was going to keep the pace I had to shed some clothes. The weather started cooling back off right at the end of the race. The great thing is you are never more than about 1.3 miles away from your things when you drop them. I came upon the aid station at one of the turnarounds on my last loop and told a friend there that I was set to PR and only had just over a mile left. I could walk in and still PR. She handed me a shot of fireball and told me to go get that PR...you could hear her cheering me on as I ran off. With these loops you are constantly with people and constantly see everyone. It was awesome because you got to watch the emotions people go through and lift them up when you could tell they were struggling. It is one of the most uplifting races ever. 

End results: A NEW PERSONAL BEST!!! My record was at RussVegas Half from April 2014 with a time of 2:13:30. I beat that by more than 5 minutes!!!! My official time is 2:08:17!!! Not only that, but I was 5th overall female and 14th overall! Me...middle of the packer!!! I have always, even at my peak, seemed to fall in the dead center...always that middle third. But I PR'd and I did so all with a pace that stayed under 9:47 for every mile! I'm beside myself still three days later! I got to talk a lot at this race about Vespa All-Natural Amino Acids to all the people who kept asking me what I've been doing to lean up and improve so much...and still be walking so well afterwards. Most of the people there used to run with me in 2014-2015 when I was peaked and running a lot. They were surprised by how much improvement and leaned out I was compared to them. It's not my current training as I've not been running like I should. I'm still a bit shocked seeing these results! So, it was great getting to share what has helped me and where I'm headed. 

This race will forever hold a spot in my heart.