Charlotte's Thunder Road Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Charlotte, North Carolina
United States
Thunder Road Marathon
28F / -2C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 57m 47s
Overall Rank = 1112/2999
Age Group = F40 - 44
Age Group Rank = 55/271
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 5 am. Had coffee, walnuts, and a banana.
Event warmup:

Did some stretches, then went for a walk around the block to see just how cold it was, and it was cold! We could NOT figure out what to wear and kept changing our minds. Luckily there was a bag check at the race start so we were able to bundle up to walk to the convention center, then drop off everything we decided not to wear at the bag check.

I ended up with running tights, and nike long-sleeved, high-neck winter shirt, my lightweight cycle jacket, headband ear muff and gloves.
Run
  • 1h 57m 47s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 59s  min/mile
Comments:

I got worried when we arrived at the expo center for packet pickup and they were selling shirts that said, "Flat is for Sissies." I was like, "Mercy, I knew the course was a bit hilly, but just how hilly is it!?!" So we drove the course out, and as promised it was indeed very hilly. I've NEVER trained on hills! (my bad) At this point I was resigned to just run my best and forget about trying to pace for a goal. I figured that course was going to kick my behind.

There was a MASSIVE crowd. I had NO IDEA it would be like that. We could not even get to the street to line up, and we started too far back from our pace group. It took 3:04 min to even get to the start line, and another 10 min of moving quite slow and dodging people to get to where it opened up enough to run at pace.

But then it was great. My pace came easy and the experience was FUN! There were a LOT of spectators out cheering us on and holding out there hands for a hand slap.

I held steady up until mile 10. When I saw the clock, I thought just maybe I could make that 2 hour mark if I kicked it up a notch. So the last 3 miles I pushed harder. Coming into the finish area I saw the clock time had just gone over 2 hours but my chip time was 1:57:47!!!
What would you do differently?:

Train on hills! And place myself in the proper pace group so that I'm not held back for so long at the beginning of the race.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked it off.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The hills were not nearly so bad as I thought they were going to be. I don't think I could have done much better even if I had trained on hills. But I know hill training must be done.

Event comments:

This was a super FUN RACE! It's hilly, but suprisingly doable. Beautiful route and lots of spectator support. If it fits my schedule, I may do the full marathon next year!


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Last updated: 2009-08-15 12:00 AM
Running
01:57:47 | 13.1 miles | 08m 59s  min/mile
Age Group: 55/271
Overall: 1112/2999
Performance: Good
10K Split - 56:10
Course: Hilly!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5