Race #134
Half Marathon #42
North Carolina Half Marathon #7
2017 Race #17
2017 Half Marathon #7
Race 13.1 Charlotte Half Marathon #1

I had no intention of running another half marathon two weeks out from Chicago. Then I registered for 13.1 Greenville and got sucked in with the offer of additional bling. If I ran both Greenville and Charlotte, I would complete the “I-85 Challenge” and earn an additional medal. I am a sucker for half marathons, especially with extra bling.

Originally Mom was going to go up with me but I forgot to mention that unlike the race two weeks ago, this race took place on Sunday, not Saturday. She had a meeting at church which she had to attend. I almost said “forget about it. I’ll just run in Greenville on Saturday.” I wasn’t super keen on driving up to Charlotte and racing on my own. However, I decided to go ahead and go.

Emily, Ellis’ oldest daughter, lives in Fort Mill, only 20 minutes from the race start. She graciously opened her house to me so that I could drive up Saturday night.

After a good night’s sleep, I headed over to the start, ready to run.

Unlike two weeks ago, I had no specific plan for this race. I thought about trying to maintain an 8:30 pace (my new marathon goal pace) rather than an 8:00 pace. When I checked to see which pace groups would be available, I decided to just run by effort instead of trying to stick to a specific pace. I have found that when I am in charge of making myself run a certain pace, I check my Garmin far too often which makes it much tougher mentally.

Although I started a little further back than I would have liked, congestion was not a problem.

We started on time and headed out on the course. Since I did not have a specific goal other than a vague sense of running at an 8:30 pace, I did not take the time to look at the course ahead of time. I assumed that it would be a straight out and back like Greenville two weeks ago.

A few rolling hills populated the first few miles, nothing too terrible.

Mile 1: 8:15
Mile 2: 8:02

Somewhere in the third mile we entered the trail. This race had just about every possible type of surface. On the trail we had boardwalk, pavement, cement, and hard-packed gravel/dirt at various points. I liked the switch up of surfaces. Plus, the trail section was absolutely gorgeous. So pretty.

Mile 3: 8:20
Mile 4: 8:24
Mile 5: 8:22

A little after we finished the fifth mile, we exited the trail and headed back out onto the road, mainly through various neighborhoods. I had just started to wonder if maybe the course wasn’t a straight out and back because I hadn’t seen any signs for the mile markers that we would pass coming back.

We exited the trail onto a terrible hill. Absolutely terrible. I knew it was going to suck. I told myself to slow down, to let it suck and then be over with. The problem with that? The hill felt like it lasted forever. I ended up walking a little as I approached the summit but only because my legs had just about had it.

As soon as I arrived at the summit, I started running again and never looked back, figuratively speaking.

I felt a little mentally exhausted in those early miles, like I wanted to go back to sleep. (Well, I actually did want to go back to sleep….) Sometime after that hill in mile 6, I forgot about the need for sleep (until time to write this post, of course).

Mile 6: 8:56 (Stayed under 9!)

The rest of the half felt really good. I settled in to what turned out to be an average 8:20ish pace and felt strong. The scenery continued to be beautiful, even the neighborhood portions. My body forgot the earlier exhaustion and instead remembered all the training I have put in.

When the turn around came a couple miles later than the half way point, my earlier suspicions of a quasi-loop, quasi-out and back course were confirmed. As the runners started coming back, I counted the women to figure out my standings. At the turn around I was the 34th woman. I decided to make a goal of finishing at least in the top 3p women.

Mile 7: 8:40d
Mile 8: 8:15
Mile 9: 8:33

I still felt good and now found myself on the homestretch. After we passed mile marker 11 and had only 2 miles remaining, I decided to see how many people I could “pick off” aka pass before I got to the finish line.

I also breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that we would not have to tackle that monster hill again.

As I came through the final miles I felt strong. My legs felt prepared to run this pace, a pace that if I could translate it to the marathon would put me coming in roughly around my PR. Wow. I am so happy to be back at this level, potentially. It’s been a long road back (which I’ll save for a later post.)

When we made the final turn for the finish line, I still had gas in my tank and a guy just a little bit ahead of me. Why not? I poured on a full-fledged sprint and beat him to the line!

Mile 10: 8:34
Mile 11: 8:17
Mile 12: 8:22
Mile 13: 8:13
.19: 6:57
Final time: 1:50:32

I am absolutely thrilled with this time and extremely glad that I decided to go ahead and race. Much needed Chicago confidence boost.

Race Review

Registration and Packet Pick Up
Race day packet pick up went off without a hitch! Everything was well laid out, just like Greenville.

Race Shirt
This shirt looks just as awesome as the one from Greenville. This one does not have “FINISHER” on the front. I look forward to adding it to my collection.

Prerace/morning (evening) amenities
The start/finish location, although in a parking lot, was decked out by the race organizers complete with a DJ and customer support tent. (This was the same as Greenville.)

Course and course support
I really enjoyed this course. Race 13.1 had plenty of monitors and police out making sure runners went the right way. The only tricky section came near the turn around when we went acros a bridge that was barely wide enough for two runners. This wouldn’t be a problem for most of the course but this bridge was in the out and back portion with runners going both directions.

Finish line and Post Race Amenities
The start and finish line were well stocked with the DJ still going strong. All sorts of things were available from water to fruit snacks to Papa John’s pizza. Now, I like pizza just as much as the next person but I do not understand the appeal of room temperature pizza at 9 in the morning. I am an odd duck though. (This is the same as Greenville.)

Photography
Official photography should be available within a few days. (Same as Greenville)

Results
You could not escape from this race without knowing your results. Not only do they text you but they have an instant results tent where you can look up your bib number and print out your results including age group breakdown. It also updates nearly immediately. (Same as Greenville)