Race #207
Half Marathon #75
2023 Race #4
2023 Half Marathon #2
Craft Beer Half Marathon #1

The juxtaposition of this race, specifically the name and a scandal/calamitous events at my deeply conservative alma mater struck me as funny and definitely provided some food for thought.

Unlike the half we ran the week before, we knew we had a deadline on when we needed to leave home for travel so that we could arrive before packet pick up on Friday. We hadn’t purchased will call, the only way to pick up the bibs on race day. Also unlike the last week, I had to work which meant that I could not get my run in before we left and ended up settling for a mile around the parking lot at the hotel. The upside? At least my legs were rested.

We didn’t rush on race day morning since not only did we not need to pick up our bibs but the race also started an hour later than last week’s race. We thought that leaving half an hour early to drive the mile and a half would give us plenty of time. Nope. Around .3 away from the parking lot we ended up at a complete stop, inching forward a car’s length every so often when cars decided to let someone turn in front of them. (The street we were on formed a T with the street that led to the parking lot of the race start area.) It ended up taking us around 20 minutes to cover .2 before we ended up turning right, not left and parking along the side of the street.

In our urgency to get up to the race start, I managed to forget my phone and leave it in the car. (I had made sure to plug it in so it would be fully charged when we started.) When I remembered, I asked Mom if she wanted me to go back and get it but we ended up agreeing that it would likely take too long; we didn’t know if they had delayed the start or not.

Although we never heard the announcement of a delay, when we made it up to the race start, we saw a countdown clock with about 4 minutes to go putting the start at 8:12. Would we have had enough time to jog back and grab my phone when I first noticed that I did not have it? Probably. it didn’t really matter though because lately Mom and I have become accustomed to running our long runs without music. (The battery life on my iPhone when playing through its speakers is abysmal.)

This race turned out to be a lot larger than we expected so by the time we got up to the start line, we could not really get close to the 2 hour pacer. Since we had run better than expected last week and I had some harder effort training runs in the week. I expected that we would run a bit slower. Plus, this course had hills, not a lot but definitely more than Cane Bay. I didn’t stress about the start line congestion.

With little fanfare, nothing aside from some people counting down with the clock, we were off. Like I expected, we had plenty of congestion for the first few hundred meters but everyone seemed courteous and aware of their position on course which makes a big difference.

I focused on keeping my effort manageable, only slightly above regular long run pace. I also chose not to look at my watch the entire time although I could nto use that as a trick to make myself forget where I was on the course this time because this race had mile markers.

Prior to the race and a little bit during the first couple miles I considered walking every 3 miles to make the effort more like a long run and less like a race. I felt good enough though that I decided to forgo those walk breaks in what seems to have become a race habit.

We had some hills during the first few miles but nothing significant or difficult. Once we entered a paved trail, the hills disappeared almost entirely. I welcomed this even though in the back of my mind I remembered a mention in the pre-race email about a hill right at the end, something I didn’t mention to Mom because I did not want to psych her out.

Mile 1 – 9:07
MIle 2 – 8:53
Mile 3 – 8:51
Mile 4 – 8:55

(While running, I had no idea we maintained sub 9 splits. I thought I was pulling back on effort.)

Also in the previous section we ran through some intermittent light rain showers, something we knew to expect after checking the forecast. I don’t mind if it rains during a race; I just don’t want to start a race in the rain aka have to stand in the open getting rained on while waiting for the race to start. This shower didn’t last long and soon we were back to the thick humidity.

After a couple miles on the trail we saw the race leader coming back our way. He had a pretty sizable lead on second place. It took another mile and a half (at my pace) before I saw the first place female. I wanted her to be closer but it looked like the super speedy females had chosen other races that day. Soon after I saw the first place, I saw the 1:35 pacer. At that point, I started looking for the next two pacers: 1:45 and 2. (We had passed the 2:15 pacer a while back.) This would help me see how close to 2 hours we were although I had no plans of increasing my pace to catch them after seeing them pass us.

These middle miles passed fairly uneventfully.

Mile 5 – 8:58
Mile 6 – 9:03
Mile 7 – 9:13
Mile 8 – 9:01
Mile 9 – 9:11

I could feel that we had slowed down a little although I still did not realize that we maintained an average faster than the week before.

A short distance before the turn around near mile 10, I saw the 2 hour pacer. I estimate the distance between us of about 2-3 minutes which confirmed the finish time I estimated but our pace thus far, however, did not predict. At that point we were still on pace for a 1:58 or 1:59 but did not know that at the time. That makes 2 races in a row where I think that the pacers, at least the 2 hour ones, ran faster than the pace necessary to reach that goal.

At one point in that last section, miles 5-9, I think we had a spot of light showers like early on in the race but when the rain came the third time, it stuck around, not heavy but definitely steady.

Mile 10 – 9:14
Mile 11 – 9:05

Somewhere in mile 11, we exited the trail. This meant a few rollers but nothing significant. I felt pretty good but could definitely feel the effort.

Unfortunately, just before mile 11, Mom hit the proverbial wall. She told me that she thought she needed to walk. I refuted that and tried to think of positive, motivating things to help her dig out of the hole. While she doesn’t know for sure, she thinks that forgetting to take in any calories pre-race caused the bonk. I tend to agree.

This made the last couple miles a struggle for her. I also was grateful that I hadn’t told her about the final hill because that meant that she didn’t have to deal with it for any longer than it took to run up it. I kept encouraging her any way I knew how because I knew that if I acquiesced and we walked for a while, she would beat herself up afterwards.

She did slow to a walk a handful of times and told me to go on without her. Of course, I not only refused but I also kept strongly encouraging her to run. When it felt like my shoes had filled with water (an incredibly odd feeling between your toes). I didn’t say anything, not until after because I wanted to keep everything positive.

Finally, we reached the final turn and the hill, definitely not the worst we have ever run. I encouraged her to push it for the last tenth and she did!

When I caught sight of the finish line clock, I couldn’t believe how close we had come to going under 2 hours! I fully expected to see a time closer to 2:05!