The Notorius Whiskey Row 1/2 Marathon

This race is brutal, and callous, and nearly sadistic, ...and me, along with a handful of other crazies, love it. The out and back course begins at 5300 feet, runners are challenged by steep rolling hills the entire way. At the turnaround you will have reached 6400 feet but with all the ups and downs runners climb way over a vertical mile. Whiskey Row is a mean combination of insane hills and altitude, hat's off to those who complete the full marathon, the 1/2 is enough for me ...for now. My love affair with Whiskey Row began in 2005, a friend and I decided to train for a 1/2 and picked this race as our goal. I have now done this race 4 years, would have been 5 but baby Max was born race weekend last year so that didn't work out!
So over the weekend some girlfriends and I headed up to Prescott, some of us were new to the race and others were returning suckers. My sister Alys, who is expecting, came to cheer us on, hold our stuff, and capture our glory on camera. (Thanks A!)
As to be expected the race was no different this this year than any year previous, I was trained and mentally ready to give it every ounce of energy possible.
Alys got this shot of me about 30 feet from the finish. As you can see by my face I am DONE! See how crazy tight my calf is, can you feel the burn..
Whooeee was I spent!
Here we are with the post race glow,
We all did great and will probably all be back.
RESULTS!!!
From left to right: Emily, this was her first race ever! And she did it in 2:30, holy crap girl! Me: This year was not a Whiskey Row PR for me but still a decent time, I know I gave it everything. Lori, she knocked nearly 30 minutes off her last Whiskey Row time, another 'holy crap girl' is in order. Glenda, she rocked the equally mean 10K course, would have done the 1/2 but she is smart and taking time off to heal an owie.

That dang race is relentless and so, so fun!