This was my first Half Marathon and I loved it! The weather was pretty cool when we started so I put on a knit hat and a long sleeve shirt. I was excited to run this race since I had been training for about 3 months and was so ready to get going. The race started out with a lap around the stadium and then through a neighborhood until we went over a bridge into the heart of Annapolis. I liked running through the cobblestone roads and near the water and Naval Academy. We then ran over the Severn River Bridge which was really nice. Throughout the first 10k I felt great, I was running at a 10min/mile pace and walking for 1 min after every mile. The weather didnt seem to bother me as much as I thought it would so I wound up taking off my hat and long sleeve shirt. The girlfriend was with me the entire time which was nice because we talked alot which distracted me from running and it was nice to have her there for encouragement and motivation. After about the first 9 miles, I definately started to feel the race affect me. My longest training run was 10 miles and after we got to that point, I started to struggle and my time slowed to about 11:15min/mile pace. We got back to the Severn River Bridge and knew that climbing that last hill was all that was left until I reached the finish line and that I was going to go from couch to 13.1 in a year! that was a pretty cool feeling. I made my way over the bridge and pushed hard the last mile until I heard the music coming from the stadium and saw the streets lined with people cheering us on. I noticed that I had 1 minute left to finish before I went over my goal time so I sprinted to the finish line and had 14 seconds to spare and beat my goal time. I then got my medal, took my finishers photo with my girlfriend and we headed over to the food tent for some water and grub.

I think that for my first half, I just wanted to finish and I did just as I set out to do. If I had to do anything different, I would add hill work and speed intervals to my training. I wasnt prepared for the hills at the end of the race and that slowed my time. I will traing better for the course next time.

Got my medal and a bottle of water. Headed to the food tent and got a banana and a breakfast burrito. We then made our way over to the massage tent and for some reason we spent 45minutes in line waiting for a massage but it was worth it, it felt real good once we got ours.


need to train more and lose another few pounds probably wouldnt hurt either.


This was my first Half Marathon and I loved it. I thought the course was beautiful and I loved running through Naptown and along the water. I think that the race organizers did alot right for their first time running this race but there are some things that could have been done better. I think that they needed to have people directing traffic pre-race because apparently there was another road you could turn onto to get to the stadium but nobody did. It took us almost an hour to go 3 miles and that caused alot of pre-race stress. I wish they would have put out mile markers for the runners (I heard later that the person that was supposed to do that broke his ankle and they didnt have a backup plan), always have a plan B. I would have liked more water/aid stations; I think they were every 3-4miles. I felt that the crowd support and volunteer support was great. I saw people cheerring us on all over the course, people had some hilarious signs that made me laugh everytime I saw them and all the cheering really helped with motivation and made the event more fun. The post race food was eh. All they had were the banana's and the breakfast burritos were not good in my opinion. I would have liked a bagel or another option. I thought that for the money, we got great swag. the medal was really nice and everyone got a nice running jacket and hat. Overall I had a great time and the race was very special to me since it was my first at the distance. I am sure the organizers will work out the kinks and I will be back to run this race again.