Renaissance Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Ridgeland, Mississippi
United States
Marathon Makeover
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 09m 9s
Overall Rank = 304/1055
Age Group = 4549
Age Group Rank = 13/102
Pre-race routine:

On Friday, I headed out from work to meet fellow BTer, Jen, for lunch at Soulshine. It was great! It's so fun to put the face with the online person, and Jen is an exceptionally nice person. We headed over to the expo together to pick up our stuff, and then hoped to meet up in the crowds the following morning.

Hubby volunteered to help with set up so headed out to the race site around 3:45a. I waved from the bed, intending on getting there shortly after 5a for the 6a start. Instead, spent 10 minutes following barfing kitty around the house, while trying not to barf myself. Ate some yogurt, which I probably should've skipped (it was too close to start time), popped my "PEDs" (Hammer Race Caps and Anti-Fatigue Caps) and showed up right around 5:30a. Enough time for a pee stop (kudos to race organizers...there were plenty of porta-johns) and hopped in the start around around the 8:01-10:00 per mile pace sign. I ran into Jen about then, and we chatted while waiting for the start, then she headed off for one more pit stop. In hindsight, I should have followed here.
Event warmup:

It was plenty warm just standing around, thank you very much.
Run
  • 2h 09m 9s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 52s  min/mile
Comments:

I wasn't in a great running frame of mind when I got to the race. I don't know why. Maybe just tired from last week's tri and the speed and strength work I did during the week. I didn't sleep very well, either, the night before, and the whole cat incident sorta crimped my "schedule." So, I was surprised at how well I felt right from the start and managed to cruise the first mile in about 9:30. I saw Jen running right next to me for a bit and then later after we turned around on Highland Colony, she was just behind me. I had a quick potty break right around mile 5. I had contemplated just running through it, but as soon as I saw the porta-johns, my bladder voted differently. For the most part, I felt smooth and comfortable. Maybe I could have pushed more, but I was pretty hot and there were some decent hills to trot up. Between mile 9 and 10, I started to feel like I was done, but I made myself keep running. Slowly, but still running. I also started to catch back up to a lot of the folks I had been running with before my potty break. We were in the sun for most of the last 5k, so it was a tough push. Especially, when I saw the guy half passed out on the ground with some folks around trying to help him. The short downhill to the finish line let me cruise in to a strong finish, and even though I still want to go faster, I was really pleased with the overall time. It was about 2 minutes faster than I thought I was going to run when I saw the 5-mile split clock, and it was 6 minutes faster than last year's run at this race. Also, it's 4 minutes faster than the MCHH last month and close to the same time as the Disney Princess Half, which was a much easier course in much cooler conditions.
What would you do differently?:

Trust my ability to run faster.
Post race
Warm down:

Got some water, walked around, chatted with friends.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Mostly, heat and humidity. It was already 70 degrees with 84% humidity at 6a, and by the time I finished, the temp was 77 degrees and humidity at 82%. It's still early in the year, so still acclimating to summertime weather.

Event comments:

Yay for Marathon Makeover doing such an excellent job with this. The race was a knockout in its first running last year with 800 runners, and to have 1,200 sign up for this year, is a testament to how well it's run.




Last updated: 2009-03-03 12:00 AM
Running
02:09:09 | 13.1 miles | 09m 52s  min/mile
Age Group: 13/102
Overall: 304/1055
Performance: Good
Did not wear my HRM, so did this all on RPE.
Course: The first part of the course heads out and back on gently rolling Highland Colony Parkway. Then, turns into the Dinsmoor neighborhood, which feels like a total uphill until we head out onto Old Agency Rd. I ride some of these roads, but it's way different to run them. I wouldn't say the course is "hilly," but it is pretty rolling and there's not a lot of just flat parts for any stretch. Best part was the one mile downhill stretch on Lake Castle. The last 5k was different this year than last year, and was, probably a bit easier because of it. And the final turn into the finish line was downhill, so perfect sprinting opportunity.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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