Rock 'N Roll - San Antonio Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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San Antonio, Texas
United States
Elite Racing
68F / 20C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 27m 17s
Overall Rank = 9012/20074
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 867/1359
Pre-race routine:

Bagel with crunchy peanut butter for breakfast. 1/2 was eaten along the way, the other about 30 minutes before the start.
Event warmup:

None
Run
  • 2h 27m 17s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 11m 14s  min/mile
Comments:

I felt pretty good for the first 5 or 6 miles, but the lack of many long distance runs started to take its toll. I started to slow down and require "1 minute walk" periods in order to keep myself breathing normally. Around mile 10 was when my legs and feet started to hurt. I probably should have replaced my shoes before this race as they were near their end. Overall, I finished, which was my only goal on this one given that I only had trained properly for 3 weeks prior to this race.
Post race
Event comments:

I don't consider myself to be a complainer, but this race definitely makes me upset. This was my first Rock n Roll marathon event and I was hoping it would do better in its 2nd year than the evaluations showed in its first. Bottom line is that this was perhaps the worst event I've attended in the 3 years I've been doing sporting events. PROBLEM 1: The shuttles to the start line had a line that took over 1.5 hours. I suppose I chose the wrong location, but this just should not happen. I should have walked to the start instead of waiting for the shuttle PROBLEM 2: Bathrooms. I have seen 800 person triathlons have as many port-a-potties. I know this probably isn't technically true, but the proportion and position of these units combined with the extra-long wait for the busses led to an unacceptable situation. PROBLEM 3: OK, the RD must be Satan. Who would arrange it so that the last .1 mile of a half/full marathon ended with a steep incline. Come On, how hard would it have been to change the course to prevent this? OK, so this is just me whining about the course, but was this necessary? PROBLEM 4: When finished moving through the post-race food, I just wanted to get back to my car. They blocked off the major exit routes and forced you through a couple spots such that we stood in line for 30 minutes just trying to get out. COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE in my opinion. In trying to sympathize with the RD, I have to wonder if the City imposed certain requirements that could be changed as it seems that it would have been easy to correct these issues with better planning. In any case, I will NEVER do this race again. It's too bad as well, as I have family in in SA and would have enjoyed doing this event annually.




Last updated: 2009-03-01 12:00 AM
Running
02:27:17 | 13.1 miles | 11m 14s  min/mile
Age Group: 867/1359
Overall: 9012/20074
Performance: Below average
Course: Winding course that brought you by the Alamo, riverwalk, and other nice sights.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? No
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Bad
Race evaluation [1-5] 1