Mercedes Half-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Birmingham, Alabama
United States
Birmingham Marathon, Inc.
28F / -2C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 51m 36s
Overall Rank = 666/3332
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 66/250
Pre-race routine:

1+15 hour drive... had a cup of coffee, half of a Maple Nut Clif bar on the drive up; once there I had a bowl of steel cut oatmeal with peanut butter and honey and 24 oz of water.
Event warmup:

Light stretching... I was shivering uncontrollably in the starting chute because of the cold temps!
Run
  • 1h 51m 36s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 31s  min/mile
Comments:

Had a great run... plan was to start out at around a 9:05 pace and negative split if possible later in the race with the goal of 1:59:59. There were a couple of significant hills on mile 6 and mile 10. It was cold so maintaining temperature was easy. I ate 5 GU Chomps along the way and took in water at every station... grabbed a couple of Lemon Lime Powerades along the way by accident... just ends up being a sticky mess... prefer water!
What would you do differently?:

Nothing at this point given it was my first HM! I followed the Hal Higdon HM plan and it worked beautifully for me!
Post race
Warm down:

HARD to do any kind of cool down... funneled into a chute to get finisher medal... there is plenty of water and fruit available... very little chance to do any cool down running. I grabbed a bottle of water and headed to Boutwell Auditorium for massage. Mary was a lifesaver... THANK YOU!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Training plan was very helpful... having never run more than 11 miles going into the event I ran my fastest pace for the race!

Event comments:

Very well organized... expo had an abundance of running related booths full of race stuff. Had a great time!




Last updated: 2010-10-18 12:00 AM
Running
01:51:36 | 13.1 miles | 08m 31s  min/mile
Age Group: 66/250
Overall: 474/3332
Performance: Average
1 00:09:03 1.00 09:03 2 00:08:54 1.00 08:54 3 00:08:45 1.00 08:45 4 00:08:45 1.00 08:45 5 00:08:51 1.00 08:51 6 00:08:35 1.00 08:35 7 00:08:43 1.00 08:43 8 00:08:32 1.00 08:32 9 00:08:22 1.00 08:22 10 00:08:26 1.00 08:26 11 00:08:15 1.00 08:15 12 00:08:19 1.00 08:19 13 00:07:52 1.00 07:52
Course: Winding through downtown... http://www.mercedesmarathon.com/2011Coursemapandelevation.pdf
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
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] 4