I'm a bit behind as FW came back from San Antonio, worked almost a full week, and then topped it off with some wedding planning. We're beat! Our trip to San Antonio was a lot of fun and this race was a great way to top it off. There are some organizational issues the race organizers will need to work on, but I really had fun at this race.
The first snafu didn't effect me at all. Many people had trouble making it to the packet pickup, held at a local hotel, the day before the race. Another sporting event made traffic slow to a crawl and getting into the hotel difficult. I only had a three block walk and was unaffected. Race morning certainly had a few issues. We stayed right by the Alamo, which made race morning a breeze. I was able to get out there fifteen minutes before the gun went off. It was actually quite cold at 46 degrees on race morning. But the first issue was the lack of corrals. Here's why: There was a 5k, 10k, and half marathon. So they had the 5k runners line up first, with the 10k runners behind them, and the half marathoners behind them. It wasn't marked and you had runners in different races mingling and starting at different times. I had no clue where to line up and spent the first two miles dodging people to make up time. This can be easily fixed at next year's race.
We headed from the Alamo for a brief loop through the downtown area. My GPS watch conked out early so I ran this one on feel. It was quite liberating! The first few miles were probably in the 8:30-9:00 range as I dodged people for a bit. It opened up some as we came back past the Alamo and headed north. We went through a few nice neighborhoods and on a crushed limestone path for a little bit. I felt great due to the cooler weather! I had prepared for high temps (it was in the mid-80s earlier in the week). My pace felt good and I'm sure I made it down to the 7:30s by mile 5 or so. I was also passing a lot of people.
One of the course highlights was Breckenridge Park north of downtown. This is a HUGE and gorgeous park. I actually took my headphones off in this area and enjoyed the scenery. We were around and in Breckenridge from mile 6 through about 9 1/2. We also crossed the river several times and made our way around a beautiful pond. The only problem with this part of the course was the amount of turns. Some of them were very sharp and added a few seconds. Otherwise, this was the highlight of the course. I'm guessing I was down to 7:00-7:15 per mile for this section and still felt great.
My only other major complaint about this race was the lack of organization at the water stops, particularly late in the race. I appreciate the few volunteers who manned each stop, but there were so few of them that I didn't want to wait for water. They were constantly having to go back to get more cups and a few times I saw a few volunteers standing around. I'm glad it wasn't warmer because this could have been a major problem.
We then made our way back south to the Alamo for the finish. We did go along the north end of the San Antonio Riverwalk (highly recommended). The scenery was great, but there were steps along this portion, plus some very sharp turns. If you know anything about long distance running, you know steps do not feel good toward the end of the race. We then made a loop through downtown again and turned to the Alamo for the finish. FW was waiting for me and somehow I missed our usual high-five. I'm not sure how I missed her!
I had no idea what my time was due to my watch issue. We went to the results tent after I got some food and beer. Shockingly, I turned in my second fastest half marathon time with a 1:36:37! This was good enough for 67/1824 overall and 10/57 in my age group. Not a bad effort at all!
This race was definitely worth the trip and I think the race organizers will listen to the participants and change some things for next year. The course really is beautiful and a great way to show off San Antonio. Next up for me is my favorite race of the year.
Next race: Ohio River Road Runners Club Half Marathon- Xenia, OH
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