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Comments: I made it to my coral with time to spare and found a group to run with. They planned to go a bit faster than my anticipated finish time but I decided to go for it although I knew that it was a non-PR course with all of the hills. I was feeling pretty good in the days leading up to the race. Soon the annoucer said that we would be starting at 7:10. The extra ten minutes would have been good for more of a warm up but the area around the corals was too crowded to do anything so I settled for people watching and absorbing the atmosphere. Before I knew it, the E group was off and then the first and second corals went and we were up! We started through downtown with a winding route past the NC Museum of Natural Sciences with it's large globe and NC Museum of History, past Moore Square and through Shaw University where the marching band played from a pedestrian overpass along the route, past Chavis Park and it's historic carousel, through Historic Oakwood and it's restored houses and past the Oakwood cemetery, past Peace College, Cameron Village shopping center -- where I saw my parents!!! -- and the Raleigh Little Theatre Rose Garden. From there we went along Hillsborough Street and past NC State University and by the iconic bell tower, along Pullen Park, past Central Prison (I don't think that we were supposed to notice that one), through Dorthea Dix and finally through Boylan Heights. Memorable hills were at Chavis Park, Oakwood Cemetary, just after turning onto Peace, in Dix and on Boylan near the finish. Very nice downhill on Pullen. As we got to Dix, I thought to myself, “I am never doing this race again.” When I finished, I was smiling and I had to stop myself from signing up for next year’s event! (Don't annoy the coach by signing up for races with no plan!). My calves started to cramp and complain at about this point as well. Unfortunately, I saw four people passed out getting attention during the race. I later found out that two participates died during the event. I pointed out to Kevin that I started in coral 3 (of 24). People up there are generally not newbies. Lots of hill walking for a non-ironman event too. I really feel for the families of the men who died. Random notes about the race: * Pre-paid parking pass - worth it! Potty like a Rock Star ($100 of Brooks gear to get the sticker, needed shoes anyway) - worth it! * Getting into town - nightmarish! Thankfully Kevin was driving. They directed *everyone* to come in on Salisbury Street. It was backed up over half a mile onto 40. I allowed twice as much time as it would take on a normal day. That was not enough. * Change of clothing - do it! We went to the concert afterward and changing cloths made this possible What would you do differently?: One thing that I do need to work on is setting expectations. I knew that RnR Raleigh was not a PR course. I knew that it was twice as hilly as the City of Oaks half marathon. I knew it was not an A race. I know that I can’t PR everything all the time but I still wanted to. I guess this is kind of normal but setting reasonable expectations/goals for each event is something I could improve on.  Post race
Warm down: Kevin met me at the finish line. We went back to the car where I changed cloths and then we went to the post race concert where we saw Love Canon and New Politics. Profile Album Last updated: 2014-02-17 12:00 AM
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Competitor Group, Inc.
58F / 14C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1134/8593
Age Group = F45-49
Age Group Rank = 29/571
I went to the expo after work on Friday and picked up my packet. I spent some time at the Brooks display where they had some fun stuff set up. They were offering pre-paid parking at two garages downtown and I decided to spring for that. In the week leading up to the event, I had become increasingly concerned about the race morning logistics and I was all about streamlining at the point. I also stopped by the pace groups area and talked to them. Linda Hatfield from Lifetime was leading out the 1:50 group. The people at the booth kept on stressing "This is a scenic course. This is not a PR course." I knew from looking at the elevation profile that this half marathon course was roughly twice as hilly as the City of Oaks.
When I got home from the Expo on Friday, Kevin said, "Oh, you have a parking pass? I looked at the road closure map and I think that I'll just come in with you." This turned out to be a good thing.
On race morning I had my usual breakfast -- a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, a water bottle of water + camelbak elixir. (I brought an extra water bottle in the car with me to sip on as needed.)
After breakfast, I went through my stretching routine and then got dressed and double checked that I had everything. All set! In the car and pulling out of the driveway just before 5:30. We were supposed to be parked by 6:00. Normally, this would be a 15 minute drive so I was allowing twice as much time as normal. That was not enough time.
The race morning directions had all runners and spectators coming from the south take I-40 end then exit on Salisbury Street. This was not a good plan. Cars were backed up on I-40 at least a half mile from the exit. Stop and roll. I decided that if we weren't there by 6:30, I would just get out of the car and do a warm up run there. Stop and roll. Kevin getting anxious. Finally we were off the exit and out of the clover leaf. I got out my phone and we found a back way to cut over to Wilmington Street which we knew would remain open throughout the race (Salisbury was supposed to close at 6:00 and it was like 6:02 when we found got to the cut through.). Wilmington Street was practically deserted and we got right to our parking deck. The prepaid pass was totally the way to go.
Parking the car, Potty like a Rock Start, finding the corral
Brooks was having a Potty Like a Rock Star promo leading up to this race. Spend $100 at a participating store, get a sticker to go into their potty line. I needed new shoes, Fleet Feet was a participating store, got the shoes, got the sticker, used the sticker. Win!
Got to the coral.
Race start was delayed 10 minutes to let everyone get to their coral.