When I set out to complete my first half marathon, I had no intentions of ever doing one again. As I neared the end of my training, I had the itch to do the Raleigh Rock n'Roll Half. Once I completed my first half marathon race, I set the goal of doing Raleigh in under two hours. To accomplish this I would have to shave almost 7 minutes off my time.
You can read about my Raleigh Rock n'Roll Half race. I did not get a sub 2 hour. I still PR'd at 2:04. Then I tried again at the Race 13.1 Greensboro. This time I came up short by 29 seconds!!!
Jeez, this was turning out to be harder than I thought.
Yesterday I completed my 4th Half Marathon and FINALLY got a sub 2 hour!
Here is my recap.
I traveled to Fayetteville, NC to run the Race 13.1 Fayettville. I had been warned that it is super hot and humid there. I was excited that it was supposed to be a flat and fast course.
I met up with some of my running buddies and we had an awesome girls night out. We stayed in a hotel from Saturday until Sunday. The race was on Sunday and the hotel was less than a mile from the start line, which worked out great.
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| The crew before the race. |
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| Weather according to Garmin |
The vast majority of the course took place on the All-American Expressway. That was my first time racing on a highway, so that was interesting. Although, I would also add it was very boring. Not to mention the event staff failed to remove a poor dead dog from the shoulder. They should have at least covered it, as we had to pass it twice. I almost cried, it was so sad.
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| I'm in the blue shirt and white hat |
I had decided to run with the 2 hour pacer to try and go for my sub 2. He was a nice guy with a lot of energy. As time went by I felt like he was running a little fast and around mile 5 I fell a little behind. My goal was just to keep him in my sight, so if at any point I felt really good, I could catch back up to the group.
I definitely would not say I felt great during this race. The humidity sucked, and the course was boring, with lots of terrible gradual inclines. Sometimes, I hate those more than hills. It's funny to even look at the elevation map because the course felt a lot hillier. I also did not like the fact that I could see for miles ahead of me, which made the distance more daunting.
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| Elevation Course Map |
I don't think I have ever drank so much water and Gatorade during a race. I could not replenish fast enough. Everything was sweating right out of me. I managed to catch back up to the 2 hour pacer around mile 8 and noticed they were walking through the water stations. So I decided to follow their lead. I even had time to refill my water bottles by doing this. Normally I just roll on right by them because I carry my own water and Gatorade.
Around mile 9 to 10 my wheels started falling off. I just wanted to be done. I can't really say what exactly was going on, as nothing was bothering me. I was just tired and my shoes were starting to get wet from my sweat, which I cannot stand. This is also when I saw the dead dog and right near that an ambulance and fire truck were taking care of an injured runner. There was also a yucky long incline up over an overpass that was concrete. My legs really felt the impact of the concrete.
I again fell behind the pacer and had just decided this was not my day. So I plodded along just hoping to finish soon. I walked through the last water station kinda sulking about missing my goal again. When I came across the mile 11 marker, and looked at my Garmin to realize I could still get in under 2 hours! I was so excited. I willed myself to go faster. I forced my legs to move even though they felt like bricks.
Around mile 12, I caught up to a runner that was running with a full sized American Flag. His friends started lagging behind him and he was trying to get them to go. I ran up beside him and said I'd run in with him. So we killed that last mile. It was such a welcomed way to end the race. He brought in a lot of crowd support which really helped me finish stronger than I felt.
I was excited to see that I crossed the finish line in 1:58:36. My chip time was 1:58:09. Finally!!!
Honestly, it is still a little surreal. It was a strange race. It was not terrible but it was not great either. It definitely was not a race where I felt like I had it. If anything I felt the opposite. I'm so glad I pushed through all those thoughts to finally do it.
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| Official Results |
My Garmin came up short on distance but it was a USATF Certified Course so I'll take it :)
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| Splits according to my Garmin |
