Festival 500 Half Marathon. Great race. Great weather.
Few notes - Friday: Arrived later than we wanted. Checked into hotel, went to the convention center and picked up race packet, saw a doctor from the show "the doctors" (he was at the convention center), ate at the Old Spagetti Factory, waiter dropped a glass of water on me, it was pouring out, saw lots of Prom kids, watched the baseball game from our hotel window.
Saturday - weather cleared up and rain was not going to be a problem. yeah. I really didn't mind running in the rain, but I guess I wasn't in the mood for it today. Hotel was on the start line around corral "J", walked up to corral "F", somewhat cold, found my running partner, gun goes off, 3 minutes to the start line.... not bad considering last year it took more like 20 minutes. I wasn't sure how the race was going to go because I didn't get consistent training in. Surprised with 1st mile 8:38 - is that too fast- not sure. Garmin stops working. Lots of bands out, but not as many as last year..Around mile 6 you enter the indy track - love this - at this point I decided to put on my ipod. Saw the male winner finish on the big screen. Leave track and see thousands of runners entering the track. Glad to be where I was (the track can make you warm). Nothing eventful from mile 8-10. My 10 mile time 1:28:33. Not really feeling tired or sore. 11th mile - it is getting warm. I also didn't get anything to eat before the race, so I decided to take a gu - vanilla bean. Dumped some water on me. At this time I meet a mom running with her 10 year old!!! chatted with them. 12th - only thing I remember about this mile is that I am really warm and that Led Zep - when the levee breaks - is playing on my Ipod. Finish 1:57:05. Overall, pretty happy. This really, was perfect weather for a race (for me). 30,000+ started and finished the race. Shocked at the number of young, 10- to 12-something runners (even 13-15 year olds) out there running under 2 hours. |