Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Difference between the gun time (1:24:10) and the chip time (1:16:44) summarizes my race.

Due to late registration, I ended up in the last corral (E). I pushed up to ~C by the start, which means I started behind about 5500 people. We were far enough back that we couldn't hear the gun go off, and it took 8 minutes to get to the starting line.

The first ~5 miles were packed with people, and I did the best I could to weave through. Some folks didn't appreciate me running by them so closely, but I didn't have any other options. Lots of slowing down to wait for space to open up. (For safety reasons, they really should reconsider their policy on all charity bibs going to the back of the line.) Things finally cleared up for me by about mile 5.

This was first road race in 20 years, and I was nervous. Maybe ran a bit too conservatively until the last couple miles. But, all-in-all, it was a fun run on a beautiful day. People were in a good mood, I survived without injuring myself or anyone else, and even ended up winning some cash and a pair of shoes.

Nothing. I originally had business travel that prevented me from scheduling this. By the time that got moved, the race was full, and the charity bib was the only way in, which put me at the end of the line.

A couple days after the race I learned that I was the first old dude to finish and so won $150 and a pair of Asics. That more than covers my cost for the charity bib and travel. Sweet!

Having to run through ~5500 people.


Really liked this race. Hope to have a chance to run it again.