Charlotte RaceFest Half Marthon - RunHalf Marathon

I went into the race mentally unprepared to have a good run. My legs had been like concrete blocks since my marathon three weeks earlier and my longest run during my recovery was 4 miles. I only ran once during the week leading up to the race. So I had pretty much just convinced myself to go out and finish as best I could. The post marathon funk I was in was just not good. I knew that I would be able to finish but didn't know how much speed I would have.

The race starts and I begin to pick my way through traffic. A lot of traffic. I look at my Garmin after a while and right at a 9:45 pace. But as I got by more people my pace picks up quite a bit and I end up with an 8:03 pace for the first mile. For the next six miles I was running great. I was at 7:46 pace through mile 7 and was feeling pretty good. I was telling myself that I had a chance to PR the race. That that running funk!

Unfortunately for me I had no idea what the course was holding for me in the last part of the race. Mile 8 was a climb for the entire mile and of course my pace fell off down to an 8:16 for the mile. Mile nine was better and I dropped back down to a sub 7:50 pace. Then the wheels came off some with the steepest hill on the course. It took a lot out of me and I ended up struggling through 10 and 11 with an 8:06 and 8:20 pace and the beginning of some calf cramping.

Mile 12 brought some much needed relief to my legs and I got back under an 8 minute pace. At this point I knew I was going to be very close to my PR so I tried to pick it up the best I could. And wouldn't you know they put two really nice climbs in that last mile. The first climb was right a the beginning of the mile for a 1/3 of a mile and the last was to the finish for a 1/3 of a mile. Luckily there was a 1/3 downhill in there. I pushed through the hills and ended up with a 7:52 pace.

Ended up a little less than 1 minute off my PR. But this course was hillier so I'll take it.



Knowing the back half of the course I wouldn't have gone out as fast as I did.

Walked around got a lot of fluids and some nutrition.


I think that my legs still were recovering from the marathon. The calf cramping is not something that is normal for me. I probably could have recovered better from the marathon for this race.


Could use more port-a-potties at the start line.