Suntrust Richmond Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

my stated goal for this race was 2:36, however - i really thought that based on my recent long runs and pace, i could maybe pull out a 2:30, so in my mind that's what i was shooting for - both goals were pretty aggressive considering i had a stress fracture in may and was released to start running early august

the start of the race was crowded as usual, but i felt like i was still going at a pretty good pace - the first mile was in under 10 min - which for those of you who know me, that's like speedy gonzales speed ;)

i did my typical run the first 12 min and then 3 min run, 2 min walk intervals - which i stuck to throughout the entire race

i felt super strong and was doing great - my 10k split was 1:10:57 - i was ecstatic - i really felt strong and like i was going to be able to keep the pace going

i enjoyed the people the music - great volunteers and lots of spectators cheering the runners on, which always is fun

there was even a homeless guy under a bridge that was 'cheering us on' - lol, not sure what he was saying but i'm going with cheering ;)

between miles 9 and 10 i started getting some cramping in my left calf, i tried to stretch it out during the walk intervals

mile 10 wicked, horibble, disabling cramps in my left foot and calf - i couldn't even walk. i had to sit down on the curb and take my shoe off and try and stretch out my foot - when i realized i was sitting on the curb in the auto traffic lane, i relocated to the other side of the street and sat on someone's front steps

i've never had such painful cramps running, it took me a good 5 - 10 min to stretch it out enough to get going again - for the next mile or so, i went back to my intervals, but the pace was much slower and i had to take mini walk breaks - it was pretty painful

i really had to dig deep to finish up the race - i kept hearing a voice in my head reminding me that i'm stronger than i know

finally around mile 12, the cramps lessened enough that i could maintain the pace a little better and it wasn't as painful

ran accross the finish line and was fairly pleased with the time i saw, given the circumstances

if i had been able to maintain the pace i was on, i would have come in at 2:29:55 and would have been in 177th in my age group

all in all though - considering it was my 2nd 1/2 mary and i improved from a 2:43:21, i'm happy with the race

i'm not sure why i cramped so badly, i suspect it is maybe due to lack of training on hard pavement and/or hills, while the race wasn't super hilly by any stretch, there was a lot more elevation than i'm used to

train more on hard pavement
train more hills
not get leg cramps

ran accross the finish line, was wrapped in a mylar blanket - thank goodness for that!

wandered around looking for judi - found the food tent and some food

jen (artemis) found me :) she called judi we met up with judi's husband and daughter (miss thing) talked about the race a bit and headed back to judi's


sever calf and foot cramping


i thought the race was very well organized, the only thing i would have changed was the weather ;)