Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Louisville, Kentucky
United States
Kentucky Derby Festival
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 16m 44s
Overall Rank = 21/11394
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 1/700
Pre-race routine:

shower + 'coffee'
Event warmup:

jog
Run
  • 1h 16m 44s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 05m 52s  min/mile
Comments:

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.
What would you do differently?:

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!
Post race
What limited your ability to perform faster:

Having to run through ~5500 people.

Event comments:

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





Last updated: 2011-04-30 12:00 AM
Running
01:16:44 | 13.1 miles | 05m 52s  min/mile
Age Group: 1/700
Overall: 21/11394
Performance: Good
Course: flat
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5