Renaissance Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Ridgeland, Mississippi
United States
Marathon Makeover
82F / 28C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 19m 21s
Overall Rank = 428/1055
Age Group = all women
Age Group Rank = 161/600
Pre-race routine:

Met up with kvesey (Karen) for lunch the day before, that was great! Had a good dinner with the friends I was staying with, slept pretty good. Got up at 3:45 AM had a breakfast bar and some juice and part of a banana, and started drinking water. Got to the race site ay just before 5AM. Probably visited the port-o-john 7 times just before the gun went off!
Event warmup:

Just walking around and light stretching.
Run
  • 2h 19m 21s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 10m 38s  min/mile
Comments:

Staying hydrated was the biggest concern for everyone, so the course had aid stations every mile or so with water and Gatorade, thank you Jesus for that one! I drank at every station alternating water and go-juice. Sometimes a whole cup sometimes just a few sips as needed. I had a serving of shot blocks and one gel. Probably could have used another gel along the way.

I wanted to start with a 10:50 pace and be able to stay strong and have some negative splits at the end. When the horn blew at 6AM sharp the field went out fast, I hung back and ignored everyone passing me. I was shocked when I got to the one mile mark and saw I was at a 9:25 pace! I slowed down, but was still at under 10:00 when I got to miles 2 and 3. The hilly terrain and hot temps took care of some of the extra speed I had later on, although I did force myself to slow down even more. The nagging soreness in my groin muscle got pretty bad at a few points, but I concentrated and pushed through, I had no plans on walking any of this race. Got through half of the aid stations running slow but later on decided walking a few steps would be OK while I drank my stuff. Miles 8 and 9 were the worst, they were the hilliest and I was hurting. Then along came mile 10 and at that point I was reminding myself it was only like doing a 5K, I pushed even harder. Before the race I had lowered my expectations to 2:30, but at mile 11 when I saw how well I was doing and realized I could come in before 2:20, I pushed harder. Nothing like pushing when you are completely spent; adrenalin is an amazing thing!

The emotions I went through went from one end to the other. Just a year ago I was not even a runner and would never dreamed of doing this, never mind making plans to do a full marathon. I ran as hard as I could the last hundred yards and cried the whole time. I was elated and extremely relieved. Within a few minutes I found my friend Ginny and realized I could barley walk! My groin muscle was screaming at me. Soon we found Audrey and some other Pacer runners (my local club) and then I ran into Karen from BT. Everyone had great races; it was good to see so many smiles! I am already looking forward to doing this again.

What would you do differently?:

I think I peaked in my training too early. I had a foot injury from biking and had to let that heal which cut short my serious training and made for an overly long taper. I could not have done anything differently under the circumstances as the foot injury would have made the race impossible. Also more hill training!
Post race
Warm down:

I could hardly walk, I hobbled around some and did a bit of light streching, which helped.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Training and experience.

Event comments:

I would do this race again. I wish it was at a cooler time of the year, but the course was nice, there were tons of volunteers and the police did an excellent job along the course.


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Last updated: 2009-02-16 12:00 AM
Running
02:19:21 | 13.1 miles | 10m 38s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/600
Overall: 428/1055
Performance: Good
Course: A lovely loop through some fancy subdivisions (some huge old estates) and country roads, many more hills than expected, then back around into town to the finish.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5