The Parkway Half-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

A new PR!! I beat my Shamrock 1/2 time by a couple minutes. That was my big goal, and I was OK with not even hitting that because of my lack of recent run training. But I was feeling better than the last race, and when I saw my turnaround time (1:01), I knew it was possible if I could hold on.

Mostly it was just a nice run. It got a little windy on the way out, but mostly the wind was to our backs on the way back, which was nice and kept me cool.

Things got really hard toward the end. I wasn't drinking enough (I drank 1 bottle of cytomax the whole race), so dehydration was a factor. And I wasn't really prepared, so it was a matter of mental work and just hanging on physicall that got me to the end in time.

I just read this article in Runner's World about positive thinking which reminded me about that kind of training, so I tried to keep putting positive thoughts in my mind: cheerleading thoughts, "I'm good at holding a consistent pace"; and some competitive thoughts like I passed this guy who was ahead of me for a long time and at mile 11 or so I passed him and never saw him again so I was using that as positive reinforcement.

Well, it must have worked because I got to the line in time. My first goal was actually to finish with no injuries, my second goal was to beat my last 1/2 mary time, and my third, far-reaching goal, was actually to have a sub-2 hour 1/2 mary, but that will have to wait a little while (but not very long).

The other thing I think I'm good at is pushing myself. I saw some people sprinting to the finish. I heard people near me carrying on conversations almost the entire race. I couldn't have spoken much at the pace I was going, and I didn't have anything left with which to sprint to the finish. That tells me I was pushing myself well.

Today, the day after, as I write this, all the muscles in my lower body are sore, as well as some soreness in my lower back and lower abs. I have one blister on the ball of my left foot, so I can probably bodyglide that next time. But my knees are no longer sore like they were last night, so that's good.

Drink more. Bodyglide the balls of my feet. Put on sunscreen.

Went straight over to the water & food and got some of each to start rehydrating and refueling. Hung out and looked for my friends. My ex-co-worker came across the line a few minutes after me, so I chatted with him for a minute. Then I gave up waiting and started to do some stretching. I probably stretched for about 15 minutes.


Being overweight. Lack of recent run training.


The race course was exceptional because of the sand/dirt shoulders on the parkway and because of its beauty (scenery, winding and rolling terrain). My only hesitation in recommending this race is that the parkway is not really meant for 1000 runners to be on it at the same time. In the future when/if this race grows, it might take a few miles to get to race pace because of all the people (like the local Thanksgiving day run). Parking is also a problem.