Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

I felt great ...legs, cardio, everything...until I was at approx mile 9 & I got the mother of all side stitches. I struggled & tried to stretch it out & breathe deep for about 2.5 miles with it. It caused me to start to have to walk quite a bit to try to get rid of it. It never truly went away, but did ease up enough that I was able to maintain correct posture again at about 11.5 miles. Then, the calves started to feel on the verge of cramping. Wow! I just wanted to get finished before my body shut me down. And, I did! Yay!!! I finished with a decent time considering those challenges & this was my first ever 1/2 marathon. =)


Stretch before running. Eat a better breakfast. Hydrate better before the run. Bring more gel packs since they didn't give any out on the course & I was told by former runners that they would be.

very, very LONG walk back to the car.


getting a horrible side stitch was the worst...calves on the verge of cramping the last mile 1/2 hindered me too


1. Needed more water stops especially after mile 7. ...also the amino stuff was horrible...hope they go back to gatorade or powerade!!!! Also hope they do the GU packs or let us know if there won't be any on course so I can plan better for that next time.

2. There definitely was not enough music. I was told by previous runners of this event that I wouldn't need my Ipod because there's so much music & fans & cheering that I wouldn't need it. Well, I was really wishing I had it. Those runners also came to me after the race & apologized (not that they needed to, but they said this was not normally how it is at this race & this was the worst year of the amount of "distraction" (fans, cheering, music, etc.) ever.

3. It was also disappointing to get across the finish line & not be able to get water because it was all gone. I started in corral 19 & finshed in in 2 hours 44 minutes...there should have been plenty of water left. Oh & No one was taking the amino bottled drinks...guess I'm not the only one that didn't like them.
The cold, wet towels were great & the volunteers were fabulous!

4. The corrals worked out great for getting us going without being too terribly cattled on top of each other. That was great!

4. I'll definitely give this race another shot next year & hope it's better next time. =)