Holualoa Tucson Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Tucson, Arizona
United States
50F / 10C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 00m 43s
Overall Rank = 539/1306
Age Group = M 51
Age Group Rank = 38/64
Pre-race routine:

Coming of a month of rest since NY marathon. In NY my left knee erupted and with the muscle cramps I thought I was about to fold up like a cheap lawn chair. Finished NY but it was UGLY... This pre-race was a series of three and four mile runs just to stay in some sort of shape and see if my knee still worked.
Event warmup:

I live close so up at 5:00 AM, chugged an Odwalla protein shaked, had the required bananna, a couple of shots of espresso (a normal morning routine for me) and off to the start. The start was an interesting mix of folks wandering around, stretching, etc. Felt more like a sports festival than the start of a race.

There was no gun, a minute or two after the starting time, the group just started to move towards the start and off we went. A little odd but who cares, we all got going even if more like a managed scrum than a formal start.
Run
  • 2h 00m 43s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 13s  min/mile
Comments:

As I was treating this as a fun run and it was just that. The perfect day. It was easy to have a pleasent pace once the runners spread out. There is something wonderful about running a 1/2 and not really caring about the time. It allowed me to enjoy the race a lot more! This was a good lesson learned.
What would you do differently?:

I would start closer to the front. It was a real hassle getting around the clusters of walkers for the first mile...
Post race
Warm down:

Easy race, not much need to warm down. Good sized area to walk out the kinks after the run. Lots of water, good access to snacks and no lines anywhere. The end was full of happy runners with their bananas and peanut butter wraps, etc. The end was very well run and easy to get through. No more than 15 minutes after the end of the race I was driving home to make ginger bread houses for the holiday season. What a perfect way to start the day!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I was a bit paranoid about my knee and the muscle cramps after the NY marathon so I took it easy, lots of water, salt,ect. That meant lots of running into the bushes on the side. But, honestly, it was so much fun just to run the race for the joy of it that I am going to be sure NOT to take myself to seriously in the future.

Event comments:

For a small run, this was a lot of fun, nice people all around. I would highly recommend this race if you like small, fun runs that have beautiful sights to see while running. The desert was a great thing to run next to and the trafic that went by us was VERY respectful, they almost ran off the road to give us extra space.

Highly recommended. This was the perfect race on a perfect day. If the rest of my races are half as fun as this one I will be a very happy camper.




Last updated: 2007-12-04 12:00 AM
Running
02:00:43 | 13.1 miles | 09m 13s  min/mile
Age Group: 38/64
Overall: 539/1306
Performance: Good
Course: They moved the course north this year and it was a perfect day with a wonderful course. We ran next to desert almost the entire race. The sun was perfect, the tempereture was perfect, the course was a slight downhill almost the whole way. Of the 7 runs I have done, this is by far the nicest. I will do it again in a heartbeat!!!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5