Monday, March 22, 2010

Germantown Half Marathon Race Report




Total Time- 1:56:52
Overall Rank- 348/1492
Age Group Rank- 40/89

Well, my first half marathon is officially in the books. Here is my race report, extended version!

I got up around 4:30 AM on Sunday. I wanted to give my body time to wake-up and I hate being rushed, so I jumped in the shower and took a long hot shower to help me loosen up. Then I drank some Gatorade, read the paper, went to the bathroom and checked the forecast and radar several times. The forecast called for 70-80% chance of rain that morning, so I had time to find what I thought would be appropriate clothes. I went with running shorts, a dry weave shirt and a running rain jacket and hat and my Brooks Adreneline GTS10 running shoes ;)

I got to the race site about 45 minutes ahead of time and was able to talk to a few guys I have raced with before and met up with Bill and Daniel. Billy was doing his first 5K and Daniel was running the ½ with me. Billy and I talked about what to expect, hit the port-a-potty again and headed for the start. Daniel joined up with me in the corrals. We got into Corral B as they sang the National Anthem and we got ready to run. It was slightly raining and around 50 degrees at this point, and I was happy with the weather conditions…for now.

The race starts and it the first mile went pretty fast it seemed. I think it might have had something to do with running withmy iPod. It did seem to be a more relaxed run for me, I mean, I did tell myself several times throughout the race to just relax, but it started off really well for me. I did not start hitting my lap button on my watch until mile 2, but here are the splits for my race:

Mile 1 and 2 16:48 or 8:24 per mile
The rain was now coming down in a steady pour and would remain steady the remainder of the race.

Mile 3 8:32
Mile 4 8:29
Mile 5 8:33
Mile 6 8:42


Halfway mark of 6.55 56:10

Mile 7 8:49
After mile 7, the race turned back towards the start which meant we were running head on into the rain. The temps had dropped to the low 40s at this point and it was getting miserable out there running. I was totally soaked and could see water dripping off clothes, so we were no longer just wet.

Mile 8 8:49
Mile 9 9:04
Mile 10 9:28
Mile 11 9:17
Mile 12 9:43
Mile 13 9:37



My goal was to stay under 9:00 miles as long as possible and hopefully build up some spare time, because I knew I would slow down a bit as the race went on. I held that goal until mile 9. Around mile 11, I knew I was going to make my 2 hour goal; only question I had was “By how much am I going to beat 2 hours?” The last 2 miles were tough for me and I started seeing a lot of people pulling off the course to stretch, looked like they were cramping up. I just tried to maintain and keep running, never walking.

At mile 13, I was making the turn to the chute when I could feel someone behind me and I could tell they wanted to make a last second pass, so I dug deep and found a little bit more and was able to hold him off and beat him across the line. I was given my finishers medal immediately after crossing the line, which was a bad spot. I could barely stand up, legs were wobbly, and I was tired. I tried to wait for my friend to cross, but I really started getting cold after standing still for a few minutes. I grabbed some water and was heading inside the club when I saw Daniel making the turn, so I waited for him, and then we headed inside to warm up.

I headed over to the massage booth and got my legs stretched out, I was still dripping water form my clothes being soaked, and it was a gross feeling. I had some extra sweat pants in the car, but that was all I brought. After a few minutes, I was heading home to sit in the hottest shower I could. I made it to my car and started stripping off all the cold wet clothes I could, turned my car heater to full blast and turned on my seat warmers. My shoes and socks were soaked, so they came off as well. My feet were blue. The temp on my car said 40 degrees. I can handle cold and I can handle wet, but cold and wet is another thing. I had to sit in the car about five minutes, because I start shivering so bad from the cold that I knew I shouldn’t drive yet, but I made it home and took about a 30 minute shower!

Overall, I was very happy with this race. I hit my goal. I was 40th out of 89 (Top 50%) in my AG and 348 out of 1492 (Top 25%) overall. It was a good day. Thanks to all that left positive comments prior to the race, I really appreciated it!

6 comments:

  1. Nice work James.

    Was this the ipod allowable race or no?

    Also, how are you coming up with those per mile times? I assume your watch will let you do laps and you are just hitting the lap button at each mile marker? Seems like that would make you "lose focus" or something.

    Either way, congrats buddy!

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  2. Congrats on the sub 2hr! Sounds like the weather REALLY SUCKED so nice job and way to HTFU and race.

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  3. You smoked my time:) Congrats on finishing your first half marathon!! Woo hoo...you are no longer a HM virgin:) Nice work!

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  4. Way to go sub 2 on your first half marathon attempt...and you get the bada$$ award for doing it in not-so-great weather. congrats!

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  5. Great job especially in bad conditions!

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