Race #127
Half Marathon #38
SC Half Marathon #29
2017 Race #11
2017 Half Marathon #3
Mountains to Main Street Half Marathon #1
I had high goals for this race. After my unexpectedly good performance at the GHS Half back in February I decided to go for it at Mountains to Main since they, as I thought, were run on a similar course. I searched for a training plan, found one and dedicated myself to following the plan. My performance in all of the races I ran between GHS and today demonstrated my increased fitness and continued to raise my expectations for this race.
Then yesterday my throat started to feel sore. I felt a little draggy, nothing significant, but just enough that I knew that a PR effort would take a lot more than if I felt 100% on race day. I indulged in a Chic-fil-a shake on the way home from work yesterday and made sure to hydrate through the remainder of the night. I’m pretty sure that I started the race today as fully hydrated as I will ever be before a race.
I then decided to make a series of goals. My reach goal would be a PR, 1:38:xx. My A goal would be sub 1:43:xx, which would make this race my second fastest half marathon. If all else failed, I was sure that I would be able to pull out a sub 1:45. I think my foreshadowing has been effective enough so I’ll get into the race itself.
For the first time in a while, I headed to the race start solo, albeit with Grandpa’s help to get from my car, which I parked at University Square, to Trailblazer Park, the start of the race. Mom spent the morning running a conference at church. Dad had planned to cheer me on at the finish but Grandma had some health issues that required an overnight stay in the hospital last night so he was there with her.
Solo Selfie
At packet pick up Friday, I heard a runner talking about the differences between this course and the GHS half. I realized that I hadn’t bothered to check out the course map so I took a look at that last night. I noticed the loop through Furman but did not realize that since we started at Trailblazer Park, not just beyond Gateway Park, we would also have a starting loop in Travelers Rest.
At 8:00 on the dot we were off.
I’m there in the middle of the picture.
We headed out onto the street, took a left and then a left again. That’s when I realized that we would be starting out the race running part of the Swamp Rabbit 5k course backwards. This section contains significant hills. That would have been good to have been aware of before I started the race.
Through this section I checked my Garmin multiple times to make sure that I was running on pace. I kept trying to tell myself to stop checking so frequently but the temptation held strong.
As we ran this significantly hilly section, I noticed that the temps were rising as well. We were in for a hot and humid run.
It was a short-lived relief when we got onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail. One of the few “hilly” portions comes up less than a mile after we reentered the trail. Somewhere in this section I chose to switch the screens on my Garmin to the heartrate screen. Since I did not have any heartrate strap connected, this screen is blank. From then on I decided to run by effort and stop wasting energy on checking my pace.
Mile 1: 7:29
Mile 2: 8:05
Mile 3: 7:47
I felt the best on the subsequent miles before we entered the Furman campus and continued to have high hopes for my overall result even though I no longer knew what my pace was.
Then we entered the Furman campus. We headed first around the backside of the pond. When we approached the bridget at the far end I noticed that no one turned right to cross the bridge. I mentally groaned. That meant that instead of keeping the course reasonable, we were headed for what in my early running days I named the “Hill of Death” after so many of my 5k courses ran over that hill. It’s steep and feels like it is going to last forever. Since the course measured long, (I run that area so often, I am almost 100% certain that it was long) I wish that they could have cut that hill out of the mix. Combined with the heat and humidity, I am sure that that took a lot out of me.
We headed back around the front side of the pond through a section that goes right behind the dining hall. After running A Hero’s 5k, I knew that a section coming up had a handicap ramp and stairs. I think this is the result of a fairly recent remodel. However, I do not understand why this section is part of multiple race courses. After we traverse that section we have one final hill before we reenter the Swamp Rabbit Trail. My legs were screaming during that uphill.
Mile 4: 7:54
Mile 5: 7:59
I have no idea how I was able to maintain a sub 8 pace through those couple miles. That probably drained me later in the race.
When we reentered the Swamp Rabbit Trail, I realized that we had lost the rather helpful cloud cover that helped in the early portion of the race. Every inch of me was wet with sweat. My legs were not happy at all. My mind could not get over the fact that I had not even reached the halfway point yet. My effort felt even but my pace definitely started to drop.
Mile 6: 8:17
Mile 7: 8:12
Mile 8: 8:17
I reached a low point in the race after mile 8. I was hot, so hot, and ready to be done. Thus, at the next water stop I slowed to a walk and grabbed two cups of Gatorade. At that point we were near the new Swamp Rabbit Station where some people were hard at work on an impressive mural. The cups of Gatorade were nearly full so it took me a little longer to drink all of both cups but I did.
By this point, I was pretty sure that a PR was out of the picture. I had no idea what my time was. I just wanted to finish and despite feeling nearly overheated, I wanted to finish well.
As soon as I finished the Gatorade, I started running again. Ironically enough, my splits from that mile on were negative. They weren’t fast but instead of getting slower as I approached the finish, I started to get faster and approach the speed that I started the race with.
The only thing I thought about during the last portion of the race was finishing. Each time a new song started playing, I told myself to imagine how far I could get before the song finished. Slowly but surely, I approached the finish.
Then came the second to last street crossing. The two runners (one of which I knew was a fellow competitor)ahead of me took a right which absolutely baffled me. I knew the course was different from GHS but the finish was still the TD Amphitheater behind the Peace Center and a right turn made no sense. Then the cop at the intersection motioned to the right as well. I started to turn and then heard him ask me why I was turning right. I was a bit ill-tempered at the moment so I shot back, “Because you pointed in that direction!”
Thankfully there was another runner coming back the other direction who confirmed that there was no unexpected turn. He hypothesized that the initial runner who made the turn was a non-racer. I feel really bad for the one runner that I know was a fellow competitor who went further down the wrong path than I did.
The finish line drew closer but not fast enough. We headed under the bridge. As I emerged from under the bridge, all that I could see were barriers across my path and some people standing around near the barriers. Not a single volunteer said anything about making a near u-turn to head back onto the street before taking a right and heading to the finish line. Only the fact that I ran GHS helped me remember what we were supposed to do.
I had a little left in the tank so I poured on as much speed as I could in the final meters. I heard the announcer say that we were approaching 1:47 on the clock. Even though I kept up my speed until the end, my heart sank. This time was no where near what I expected.
Mile 9: 8:40
Mile 10: 8:33
Mile 11: 8:26
Mile 12: 8:28
Mile 13: 8:25
.2: 7:04
Overall Time: 1:48:01
I was extremely disappointed with my results. However, I am thankful that I took a brief nap between the race and writing the race report so that I had time to think over my performance and the contributing factors.
One of the difficulties with comparing GHS and today is that the courses really are significantly different. Take the following elevation screenshots as an example.
This is today. Notice the significant changes in elevation through the first part of the race and the extra spike just before the halfway mark?
This is GHS. It looks like there are a lot of changes early on but none of them are as significant as the ones on today’s course.
Then there’s the temperature.
This is GHS. Yes, it was much warmer than I had planned on and quite humid.
However, even though the humidity was 10% less than GHS, the temperature was 11 degrees warmer. That is significant.
I took some time to research the effect that heat and humidity have on running. Temperature increases in this range can add approximately 30 seconds per mile to the pace. That alone, without the changes in the course, explains why my pace was significantly slower than the plan.
I have to also factor in the fact that my body, thanks to the start of a mild cold, was not in peak shape. I also looked back at my training plan, calculated some training paces and realized I ran some of my speedwork at a slightly slower pace than I should have.
After analysis of all the contributing factors, I come to the conclusion that I ran a smart race today. By focusing on effort, I ran the race that my body was capable of running. Now I need to take what I have learned and apply that to Chicago Marathon training which will start in July.
Race Review
Registration and Packet Pick Up
For the first time in a while, I picked up my own packet. Packet pick up was at Carolina Triathlon, a location that I was not familiar with near the trail and downtown. They had a nice set up out front, a lot of which I am sure was intended for the half ironman distance which will take place tomorrow. (I now really want to complete that race too.)
Race Shirt
I love the shirt and the logo on the front: “Strong. Tough. Swift. Fast. Wild. Bold.”
Prerace/morning (evening) amenities
Trailblazer Park served as the starting location. In addition to the race start, the Travelers Rest Farmer’s Market was also setting up. Everything seemed to run smoothly. Race organizers also had several portopotties on hand to supplement the two permanent toilets in the restrooms on park premises.
Course
This course surprised me with its challenges. On a cooler day, I know that I would have been able to run it much faster. I am definitely not adverse to a challenging course.
Course Support
I did not count the number of water stops so all I remember is that they were fairly frequent, much more frequent than in most races put on by the Greenville Track Club, and stocked with both Gatorade and water. Each street crossing also was monitored by Greenville Police. The course overall was well marked and supported.
Finish line and Post Race Amenities
Since I was in a bit of a sour mood due to my unexpected “poor” performance, I did not take note of much of the offerings in the post race area. I did not hang around and instead walked straight through. Someone mentioned plenty of food in the pavilion up ahead but I will be honest; I did not see it. As I perused the race’s Facebook page after arriving home, I saw a picture from the finish and realized that I must have simply looked right past the food offerings.
Photography
Race organizers mentioned that they have teamed up with a photography company to provide free hi-res photos which will be available on Monday.
Results
The race was timed by Palmetto Timing so the results were available right away via racemine. Even despite what I considered my lackluster performance, I managed to finish second in my age group.
I definitely recommend this race.