The Geist Half Marathon has been on my list for a few years and I finally made the trek over to Indianapolis for this one. I came into this race with very modest goals. The Cap City Half was only two weeks ago and I really struggled with my recovery from that one. My goal was to run around 1:55, have some fun, and call it a day.
I'm pretty amazed at how organized this race is considering it's only five years old. The parking situation worried me, but it there was plenty of parking at the local high school. Buses were taking runners to the start line but I just walked. It was only a mile and good for a warm-up. My race bib was for Corral A as I had qualified for preferred seeding. One problem. I had qualified for Corral C. I was in Corral A with only about 30 other people who looked very, very fast. Hilarious.
We started out by making our way across the lake before starting our trek around. I started much like I did at Cap City with two 8 minute miles. Unlike Cap City, I really felt like crap. I was able to slow down by the time we made it to mile 3. And then I actually walked for a little ways. It wasn't painful, but my legs felt dead and just heavy. I tried stretching out some but it really wasn't until mile 6 until I felt good again. Not much to report. The course itself was gorgeous with great views of the lake and plenty of shade along the way. It was one of the hillier courses I've done this year. There were lots of rolling hills throughout the entire race. I just didn't feel great because of that dead feeling. Again, there were no major goals for this race but that doesn't mean I didn't want to have fun.
Despite the crappy feeling, I was still hitting my splits! I was at 58 minutes at the half way mark and finally starting to enjoy myself. Mile 7 included the steepest climb of the race which seemed to go on forever. My one complaint is that they should actually reverse the course so the runners have shade during the second half. It started getting warmer about 8 miles in and there was no shade. On a positive note, the volunteers at this race were some of the best I've seen at any race. From the police officers blocking traffic to the volunteers at the water stops this was first class all the way.
I hit the 10 mile mark at about 1:27 and felt decent. The sun was really beating down on us at this point. I don't have too much to say about the final 5k. I was really just trying to hang in there. More ups and downs before we hit the final downhill and made our way across the lake (gorgeous) to the Geist Marina for the finish. I finished strong in 1:54.21. The finish line area was really pretty cool. I wish I would have felt like sticking around but I really didn't. Just found a quiet area to stretch, grabbed water and a banana, and found my way to the shuttle buses to head back to the high school (point-to-point course). It wasn't hot until well into the second half of the race but I felt drained. I actually didn't feel good for a few hours after the race which was great with the drive back to Dayton. This race is very well organized and scenic. I would recommend it to anyone.
My next half marathon isn't scheduled until late July as I'll make my way to Portland, Maine for the Old Port Half Marathon. Between now and then I'll be running some 5ks.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Capital City Half Marathon
I always say that I do a great job at races when I'm not coming in too confident and run poorly at those in which I come in looking for a PR. The trend continues. The temperature has been well above average for this time of year over the past week or so and my training has been so-so. I'm over the knee issue that plagued me for about two months, but I did not feel great about the weather. It's been downright miserable on short runs let alone on a 13.1 mile trek. My attitude for this race was to simply enjoy the sites of Columbus (my favorite city to run in) and run around a 1:55.
This race started along the Scioto River in downtown Columbus. It was pretty warm and humid when i made my way to the start at around 7:00. I overheard a lot of people saying they weren't looking to PR because of the weather. Based on the reports I've seen on Facebook, it looks like many runners ran a sub-par race.
We started out along the Scioto and I was amazed at how fast I felt I was going. Too fast. I didn't feel great by any means. I just couldn't slow down without feeling like crap. 8:45-9:00 per mile is my usual pace for the first 5k or so. The first mile clocked in at 7:56. Way too fast. The second mile was more of the same as I came in at 15:52. Even splits but way faster than I meant to go. The 5k came in at just under 24 minutes when I usually try for 26-27. I really don't know why I couldn't slow down during this first part of the race. The race conditions were far from idea. I even started taking water at the second water stop. Speaking of the water stops, I have a serious complaint about them. The volunteers did a wonderful job, especially considering the heat and humidity, but this is the first larger race (13,000) I've done where each water stop was only on one side of the road. This was a nightmare at some stops because of the number of runners. Nobody wants to cut off other runners to run over to the other side of the road for water/Gatorade. The entire race was like that.
I don't remember most of the mile splits past the 5k mark. Most of them were around 8:00-8:10 per mile. We ran over the Lane Ave. bridge, which was pretty cool, and near OSU campus. We didn't see much of this area during last October's Columbus Marathon. It was nice to see a few different areas. The fastest part of the course was going south on High Street, being a nice slight downhill run. I hit the 8 mile mark at about 1:05. Again, much faster than I wanted to run but I was hanging in there. We then took a short detour east away from the downtown area and then back south toward German Village. The ten mile mark came in at 1:20 and change. I've mentioned before that I usually hit it in 1:25-1:30. As opposed to my last half marathon, I did not decide to go all out for a PR but instead opted to simply hold a steady pace.
German Village is a nice area to run through, but I have a complaint about this section of the race. We were to wind our way through town some before heading back up High Street. Right before High Street, we ran maybe a quarter mile or so on a brick street. Maybe it's just me, but I'm sure many runners don't want to be running on a brick street around mile 12 of a half marathon. It wasn't terribly uneven but bad enough. High Street was up next and it was a challenge to finish this race taking the uphill portion of High toward downtown. It was around one mile even, though I heard from many people that the course was closer to 13.25 miles. I believe it because the finish line seemed very far away from the 13 mile marker. At this point I finally realized that a slight PR was a possibility. I gave it everything I had left and crossed the finish line in 1:45.35, a new PR by 9 seconds!
This was a very strange race to get a new PR. The course is definitely fast but the weather conditions made it a challenge. I never hit the runners high that I seem to get whenever I PR either. It never felt easy and I never just glided along. I'm pretty amazed that I ran a new PR, but I'm realizing that this isn't (and shouldn't be) a possibility at each of these races. My next race is definitely one that isn't conducive for fast times so I'm hoping I can just relax and have fun.
Next race: Geist Half Marathon- Indianapolis, IN
This race started along the Scioto River in downtown Columbus. It was pretty warm and humid when i made my way to the start at around 7:00. I overheard a lot of people saying they weren't looking to PR because of the weather. Based on the reports I've seen on Facebook, it looks like many runners ran a sub-par race.
We started out along the Scioto and I was amazed at how fast I felt I was going. Too fast. I didn't feel great by any means. I just couldn't slow down without feeling like crap. 8:45-9:00 per mile is my usual pace for the first 5k or so. The first mile clocked in at 7:56. Way too fast. The second mile was more of the same as I came in at 15:52. Even splits but way faster than I meant to go. The 5k came in at just under 24 minutes when I usually try for 26-27. I really don't know why I couldn't slow down during this first part of the race. The race conditions were far from idea. I even started taking water at the second water stop. Speaking of the water stops, I have a serious complaint about them. The volunteers did a wonderful job, especially considering the heat and humidity, but this is the first larger race (13,000) I've done where each water stop was only on one side of the road. This was a nightmare at some stops because of the number of runners. Nobody wants to cut off other runners to run over to the other side of the road for water/Gatorade. The entire race was like that.
I don't remember most of the mile splits past the 5k mark. Most of them were around 8:00-8:10 per mile. We ran over the Lane Ave. bridge, which was pretty cool, and near OSU campus. We didn't see much of this area during last October's Columbus Marathon. It was nice to see a few different areas. The fastest part of the course was going south on High Street, being a nice slight downhill run. I hit the 8 mile mark at about 1:05. Again, much faster than I wanted to run but I was hanging in there. We then took a short detour east away from the downtown area and then back south toward German Village. The ten mile mark came in at 1:20 and change. I've mentioned before that I usually hit it in 1:25-1:30. As opposed to my last half marathon, I did not decide to go all out for a PR but instead opted to simply hold a steady pace.
German Village is a nice area to run through, but I have a complaint about this section of the race. We were to wind our way through town some before heading back up High Street. Right before High Street, we ran maybe a quarter mile or so on a brick street. Maybe it's just me, but I'm sure many runners don't want to be running on a brick street around mile 12 of a half marathon. It wasn't terribly uneven but bad enough. High Street was up next and it was a challenge to finish this race taking the uphill portion of High toward downtown. It was around one mile even, though I heard from many people that the course was closer to 13.25 miles. I believe it because the finish line seemed very far away from the 13 mile marker. At this point I finally realized that a slight PR was a possibility. I gave it everything I had left and crossed the finish line in 1:45.35, a new PR by 9 seconds!
This was a very strange race to get a new PR. The course is definitely fast but the weather conditions made it a challenge. I never hit the runners high that I seem to get whenever I PR either. It never felt easy and I never just glided along. I'm pretty amazed that I ran a new PR, but I'm realizing that this isn't (and shouldn't be) a possibility at each of these races. My next race is definitely one that isn't conducive for fast times so I'm hoping I can just relax and have fun.
Next race: Geist Half Marathon- Indianapolis, IN
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