Spokane Negative Split Half Marathon
I signed up for the Negative Split Half Marathon in Spokane kind of on a whim, and without training in the hopes that my stamina from Austin Marathon and the Saddle Blazer half would just carry over. It definitely wasn’t the easiest race I’ve ran, but I was happy to discover that my legs still felt strong!
The course of the Negative Split Half was surprisingly gorgeous! All parts of Spokane Washington aren’t exactly eye candy(no offense Spokanites), but this race did a great job of keeping the course strictly to the pretty landscape areas. It was the perfect early spring run! I knew going into it that it would be somewhat challenging without fully training (true that 13.1 miles isn’t a marathon but it’s not exactly a Yin yoga class either), but joke was on me because this kicked my booty more than expected! SO.MANY.HILLS. I kept waiting for the downhill to come, and it just never did. I signed up for this race with our good friend Savannah who lives in Spokane, and she was feeling slightly under the weather race morning (read- vodka induced barfing). What kept me pushing up the hard hills was thinking of how much hungover Savannah must be struggling and how it could be much worse. Sorry Savannah love you!! We also both almost had incidents of not making it to a porta potty on the course. I’ll leave that up to your imagination, but we’ll just say it wasn’t #1. Real runner talk. But we finished strong (without any poop incidents thank God) and had so much fun!
For a smaller race, I was pleasantly surprised by the added goodies. We received reusable drawstring bags for bag-check, a really comfy long sleeve race shirt (one of the better ones I’ve gotten!), and cutie pint glasses with the race logo on them. I think it’s a new thing for races to give out pint and champagne glasses, which is awesome but unfortunate for the small cup drawer in the RV. #tinyhomeproblems. But anyways, they did a great job with the fun extras and really cute medals! I also love that the race’s motto is “Finish Strong.” Way to keep us positive as we’re all dying up those hills!
I’m really happy I ended up signing up for this race! Honestly I love racing so much, I’ve never regretted a registration. No matter the course, or finish time, I always get the best runners high and they remind me of my strength! Also, it’s a safe and socially acceptable space for my closet competitor to be released. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this race if you’re trying to get a big PR (just because of the uphill aspect) but would definitely say it’s a fun one to see the beauty of Washington in the springtime!
