I ran my third half marathon this past Saturday as part of the 8th annual Fort 4 Fitness Fall Festival. Actually, I ran this one with not only Jane (for the 2nd time), but Drew Carrie also ran their first! I was very impressed with them, and we all lived to tell about it.
They changed the starting spot this year to accommodate the new bus station, but it was basically the same course as before. I think they also moved the start time back this year - to 8:30. Once again it was a beautiful day. It was in the low 60's at the start and was an overcast mid-70's later in the day, so it was not cold but also not hot at all.
Jane and I both started in the "J" corral, and Drew Carrie were in "L". We probably should have both been in "K" but it didn't matter much. Drew Carrie passed us not far into the race, but we stayed just behind them the rest of the way. Jane and I both even stopped to pee once each. We also took along (and ate) some energy gels for the first time. I don't really know if they helped much or not, but they didn't hurt. I also took more drinks than ever before - though I need to remember to stick to water instead of gatorade. I don't much care for gatorade. I really don't even need water during a half, other than to wash down the gels.
As for the race itself, it was okay. I think there were fewer half runners this year than previously. There used to be around 2500, and this year there were just over 2000. The biggest annoyances for me were the couple who were following some app on their phone where they alternated running and walking. When they ran they would sprint ahead of people, and then stop right in front of them to walk. They had no consideration for anyone else, and just annoyed me in general. There was also a mentally "challenged" spectator around the 12-mile point who wanted to give people high fives, except he would get right in front of you and stop. He did it to Jane. Not a good thing to do to someone who's been running for over 2 hours. I'm not blaming him, but someone should have done something because I can't believe no one got hurt.
I was only slightly annoyed by the fact there were 4-mile finishers at the same time we were finishing. The 4-mile leaders were running at a way faster pace than we were, and it just kind of takes a little out of you to watch them blow past you at the end of a long race.
For some reason I just wasn't in a very good mood the whole day. I really love this event, and the race went fine. I was annoyed that I drank too much on Friday though, and I didn't feel the greatest. My knees were also uncharacteristically sore while running. Not that I was in pain, but I just had the sinking feeling that there was no way I could ever run a full marathon. Now that I've had time to think about it though, and since I felt fine after it was over, I think it was from drinking too much alcohol and not enough water. So that's something I can fix. I hope.
Drew Carrie finished in 2 hrs. 25 minutes. Jane and I came in at 2:27. I think that was just over 11-minute miles, which is almost exactly what we ran it in 2 years ago. I ran my first half marathon in 1:47; which was just over 8-minute miles. At this point I can't really imagine how I did that, however I never did really even breathe hard for this one.
So... while I seemed to be a little out of it from the start (we were late leaving the house to begin with), it was another fun day of running through town. I would say I felt better after this one than any before. I didn't even have any blisters or nipple chaffing! That's always a plus. Can't wait til next year!
Here is a pic of our traditional post-race beer...
