GF and I made the long trek back to my stomping grounds for a wedding this past weekend. It was tiring but a lot of fun. We spent the time in Sidney and Piqua (yes, those scenic areas) so I naturally looked for a race in the vicinity. Luckily, I stumbled upon this race in nearby Greenville and signed up. This one counted as my 49th half marathon.
Lesson learned: Do NOT sign up for a race right after a long wedding day on Labor Day weekend. We spent all day Saturday with the wedding festivities and the near 90 degree heat. We were beat Saturday night and had to turn around and get up at 5:30 the next morning. Have I mentioned recently how GF is the best? She is patient beyond words.
On to the race. This one was put on by the same timing company that did the Shawshank Hustle 7k that I despised. I'm now convinced that the venue was the problem with that race because this one was one of the most well organized smaller half marathons I've had the pleasure to run. There were two other races, a 5k and 15k, going on at the same time. The organizers and volunteers were exceptional. If you are looking for a well organized, small half marathon, look no further. I would put the organization close to the Ohio River Road Runners Club Half which is my favorite race. The water stops were well stocked. The route was very, very well marked. The medal is awesome! It was a great event.
Miles 1-5: I started out pretty strong because the temperature was in the mid-60s at the start. My goal was to get at least 7 miles in before the inevitable warm-up. We started with half a lap on the high school track before exiting the stadium and running down some streets near the school. There were a lot of turns on this course, similar to the Medina Half Marathon. We made our way toward the Darke County Fairgrounds and ran through a few of the trails there. The first half of the course was rather ho-hum. There were several nicer residential areas but mostly it was a typical small town tour. I don't have exact splits for this race as my watch did not save the data. Most of the early miles were in the 7:45 range.
Miles 6-10: I definitely slowed down and had up and down miles during this section. The issue with my legs crapping out has not subsided, though it is improving. I sprinkled in a few walk breaks when we went through the fairgrounds. The best part of the course was when we made our way through downtown Greenville. The course support was very good here and the downtown is very nice. I was in a larger group of runners at this point, too, which made it feel more like a race. The course merged with the 15k runners for a short time prior to veering off to another neighborhood for a short loop, then coming back to where the 15k runners came through. We continued north toward the finish and hit a nice bike path. The shade felt wonderful as the temperature had risen a lot. I was sprinkling in a lot more walking.My pace was still decent, but the walk breaks took there toll as I was in the 8:00-8:30 range for this portion of the course.
Miles 11-13.1: We then made our way back to the finish, but first we ran through the Treaty of Greenville State Park. This is a small, but gorgeous, state park to run through. Plenty of trees and a small pond with a fountain make this a great running location. One more residential development and we finally made our way back to the finish on the track. I felt good these last few miles and powered through for a respectable 1:45:20. I finished 13/118 overall and placed 2/6 in my age group. Not bad for my second slowest half of 2015. I really can't say enough about how well the organizers did with this race. It won't be on my list for next year but only because it's too far of a drive. I would highly recommend it to anyone near the Greenville area.
The next race will be my 50th half marathon. That's hard to imagine since I only started running these in 2009. It should be a great day!
Next race: Akron Half Marathon- Akron, OH
