Dick Beardsley 1/2 Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

This was my first half, and by far the longest mileage I've done to date. My current training plan calls for a few more runs before I hit the 13.1 distance, however this race came up so I figured, "Why not?" My lack of longer distance stamina is apparent when looking at my splits, I was well below 10/mile at the halfway point and finished much higher than that. It was super mega hot and sunny, and the course is deceivingly hilly. They call them gently rolling hills. I think that means they feel like they're going on forever.

Nothing really. I went out and stuck to my intended pace even while people were blowing past me in the first 3 miles. I knew I'd see them all walking later on, and sure enough I did!

Lot of walking around the finish area and stretching, despite how painful that was. I pre-planned to have lots of after race drinks and food ready, and it worked out well. After the race-supplied oranges, gatorade and ice-cream, I had my bottle of Vitargo + L-glutamine and a protein bar. Plus more water to wash that all down.


The usual, I'm still relatively new at running and am still building up my base endurance. And blisters, even though I applied Glide and bandaids. I had a sharp toenail dig into the toe next to it, and ended the race with a very bloody sock.


Tons of volunteers, this is the 16th year doing this race and they've got it down perfect. My GPS says I ran 13.23, and many others commented that their's read the same. We didn't stick around for post-race activities so I didn't rate that. I'd do this race again if it fits in my training schedule.