Official Time: 1:54:56, 8:47 pace (new PR)
Overall Place: 780 / 2645
Division Place: 28 / 139
Sex Place: 205 / 1316
Lets start with my only complaint about the race: PARKING. Oh my word. We spent the night at my brother and sister's house, who live less than 5 miles from the race start. We left at 6:40 am for an 8:00 start (I had wanted to leave by 6:30, but we were running behind). We parked at 7:30. Not ideal, but I was coping. It was only a short walk to the start, and there were no lines for the porta potties, so I wasn't feeling too rushed. Then they made the announcement around 7:45 that the start would be delayed until 8:05 since traffic was backed up for miles (all the way to the expressway). Shortly after, another announcement that we would be delayed a little longer until 8:15. Overall, everything worked out fine, but I feel like races should start when they say they are going to. Hopefully the organizers learned a few things with their "record numbers" and can come up with a more efficient parking plan, because funneling everyone through one entrance single file into a large field wasn't working. Generally, I am just glad I wasn't one of those sitting in their car at 7:59 freaking out, trying to figure out if I should run for the start or not.
As I said - no lines for the porta potties at 7:35. AMAZING. I ended up going again at like 7:55, and only had to wait behind about 5 people, so still not bad (I really like to make sure my bladder is empty). Temps were chilly so I had some sweats on, and I was able to wait right near the start/finish with Josh until 5 minutes before the start. I stripped off the layers and then I went and snaked into the corral and Josh found a spot in the starting chute to watch from. The corral was very well marked with balloons for the different races (that matched your bib), and pace signs were very visible.
We were off, and the first few miles were uneventful. The course is pretty hilly: it starts with a rolling downhill for the first 4 miles, followed by a net 400 foot rolling climb between miles 5 and 10. There are a few more smaller hills, then we finish on a gradual downhill with the wind at our backs. Most of miles 4 and 6 are on packed dirt/gravel trails; not a lot of passing room, but I didn't have any issues. I felt good, so I kept a pretty good pace right off the bat:
Mile 1: 8:44
Mile 2: 8:36
Mile 3: 8:33
Mile 4: 8:36
Mile 5: 8:45
Around mile 5.5 I saw my parents - they were waiting just after the Clinton River Trail, before downtown Rochester. It was great to see them and they were wonderful cheerleaders, giving me a little extra boost of energy (Josh stayed at the start/finish since he had Lucy and road closures made it hard to drive around). My mom said afterwards she was really impressed with my focus and it looked like I had a great stride going. I felt good at the time, but I knew the hills were coming. I took my Gu just before Mile 6, and continued to drink at every water station.
I really felt the climb at mile 8 (it was almost an entire mile), but overall the hills weren't as bad as I thought they were going to be. I put my head down and powered through them, reminding myself that there were lots of downhills to recover on. I definitely let my legs carry me through some of the downhills, letting my pace pick up quite a bit. I crossed the 10K point in 54:10, a 8:43 pace (my best 10K time ever!). At this point I was pretty sure I could finish under 2:00 and a PR started to cross my mind.
Mile 6: 8:59
Mile 7: 9:01
Mile 8: 9:31
Mile 9: 9:04
Mile 10: 9:05
Somewhere around Mile 10, there was a "free beer" table. I passed, but got a good chuckle out of it. I should mention the course was really very scenic. The trees in Michigan are starting to turn color, we crossed the Clinton River and ran through some nice trails. Overall, I did enjoy the course. I will say that there were far fewer spectators than I expected, given that the race runs through some fairly densely populated areas. I listened to music the whole time anyway, and the spectators that were out were a lot of fun. I must have passed out over a 100 fingers worth of high 5s to kids on the course (and one cop).
There was some rough running surface somewhere around mile 11 or so - it was a packed dirt road but had a LOT of potholes and divots in it. I really had to watch my footing and shouted for others to do the same. I was felling really motivated to PR the closer I got to the finish, but tried to keep my stride even. I continued to drink water at all the stops and they had electrolyte drink between miles 11 and 12. I picked up my pace at mile 12 and motored up the last little hill to the finish. My Garmin says I only ran 13.07 - I must have killed those tangents!
Mile 11: 8:44
Mile 12: 8:50
Mile 13: 7:56
Last .1 (.07): 7:11
New PR in sight! I beat my previous best by over 3 minutes!
I grabbed a mylar blanket and my medal before loading up with lots of goodies. They had water, flavored water, milk and chocolate milk, Gatorade in cups, bagels, mini boxes of Wheaties Fuel cereal, bananas, apples, cookies, popsicles and cups of apple cider. I didn't grab a milk, but later wished I had when I realized I had no protein for recovery. Oh well, I could only carry so much stuff.
I just finished my fifth half marathon!
Josh said the finish chute was kind of crowded, and people were bunching in making it really hard to see. Plus he had Lucy, so she adds a whole other challenge to spectating a race. I give the race props for its sound system - it was nice to hear all of the announcements pre-race and at the finish clearly. There were quite a few post-race festivities, but we didn't stay to check them all out. There were a bunch of blow-up toys for kids to play on - I'm not sure how many half-marathoners were waiting in line to jump around in a bouncy house.
Lucy tried her best to share some of my food with me, then we headed out. There are only a few pictures of the race because we forgot the camera in the car in our hurry to get the the start, and Josh went back to get it for the finish.
That is my "I'm Happy! I just finished a race!" face...
Overall, good race and definitely one I would consider running again.
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