Surf City Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

I started back way too far (2:10 corral)since I thought the wave start would help trim out people however at one point it looked like my wave, the wave in front of me and behind me all went at the same time. Too much congestion. My 3 mile split and 8.2 mile split kind of show that. It was slow at first and had to bob and weave but since it was still a bit foggy I chose not to hit any aid stations. Around mile 4 I felt a twinge in my crotch and thought that I may have to whiz but since I had not really started to sweat I thought I should be ok and then reassess later once I lost some water/sweat. Everything seemed to go a bit better up to mile 8 but still had that constant 'twinge'. Around mile 9 it started to become a sharper and more stinging pain. I thought the shorts may be the problem if it was an irritation, but I had worn these before on runs as long as this and never had a problem. I still wanted to stop at a porto and get water as now the sun was toasty but I did not want to stop or wait as I thought it may get worse (uh oh). By mile 10 & 11 the chafing really hit so I decided not to stop at any rest/water stations, which now I believe was the right (and wrong) move as I felt I may not restart if I stop. As I hit the last 1 1/2 miles the pain dissipated a bit probably from adrenaline and crowd and the fact I knew I now had to push a bit to get under 1:50 (during the race I thought 1:40 was doable until the 'twinge' as we'll now call it). I got through and since the gun time was over 2:00 I really did not know if i got under 1:50 officially. My watch was in the 1:49 range which turned out to be right.

Next time I have to start with a faster wave. I know I lost at leat 5 min weaving and bobbing around.I probably could have hit or went under 1:40.

I freeball it when I run and have trusted all my shorts without a liner for years and have never had a problem with the bat-n-balls! I find a liner too constricting but now i may need to reassess.

After getting some water, the crummy vitalyte and the awesome medal, I had to hit the nearest porto and take care of the 'twinge'. Once in the porto I realized it was major bleeding. Thankfully I carry extra band aids and once resolved, I walked around for the freebies for a bit and then went home to nurse my coc$!


I thought the problem might just be that I had to wiz and it was a slight irritation. Little did I know that until I finished it would be a much more painful problem and directly affected my performance. Since I also did not hit any water stations and it got hot running into the sun at the end it definitely put a damper on hydration and performance (almost no kick).


A nice race with good weather but I have run huge races, Bay to Breakers, Cooper River Bridge Run, Bolder Boulder with tens of thousands of more people and yet this one felt more congested?!? I never really felt that I got into a groove and always seemed to be dodging in-n-out. The coc$ pain will be a major learning experience but I guess a 1:49:37 time is pretty decent (and an official pr) albeit that i now have a gauze bandage on my coc$ and will for another day or two.