Yes, I am missing three race reports. The Columbus Half was well over a month ago and I still have two other race reports to do. Plus, my next race is tomorrow. Yikes! I'll keep it short.
This is a tremendous race with excellent organization, minus one snafu at the end that was quickly corrected. My girlfriend and I stayed downtown for the race to avoid the traffic the next day. We were even able to meet up with some friends of mine, one of whom was running the full, for dinner the night before the race! That was a fun way to start the weekend!
Race morning was chilly but not too terrible. The start was at 7:30 so we walked from the hotel to the starting area around 6:30. My amazing girlfriend actually made the trek that early to cheer me on. I love that type of motivation!
The race start is amazing! The fireworks display was awesome, though I enjoyed the one prior to the 2011 race slightly better. I was in Corral A (how did I ever get this fast?!), so it did not take long to cross the start line. I started out at around an 8 minute pace and felt pretty good for the first five miles or so. The first half consists mostly of two long straightaways down Broad Street. We go out past Capital University, then run some side streets, then make our way back towards downtown. I had forgotten how long this stretch seems as it didn't really bother me when I ran the full in 2011. This seemed much longer as I was out for a good time at this race. I hit the 10k mark in 49:54 so I was definitely on pace for a sub-1:50 half marathon. My goal was to give my 1:39:31 from the Capital City Half Marathon a run for its money.
But then the wheels fell off and I had some minor GI issues throughout the second half of the race. We were running back toward German Village when I started feeling a bit crummy and had to stop (twice). I was still running a good time, though, and was still thinking a sub-1:45 was a possibility. What a difference a few years make! I couldn't dream of a sub-1:45 back then and yet here I was, struggling with a GI issue and still thinking of a sub-1:45.
We hit German Village and meandered around there a bit. I did notice the course through here was very similar to Capital City and is my favorite part of the tour. I kicked it up a bit during these miles as I was slowly feeling better. After exiting German Village, we headed back up High Street. There's a killer hill here leading back downtown. I've mentioned it during my Cap City reports as that race ends near the same area. It's a rough way to finish the race! I was able to cruise in for a 1:44:37. Good enough for 816/10,410 overall and 109/593 in my age group.
The only snafu was they didn't have the medals ready for the first group of half marathoners. There was a problem in getting them on time, though it sounded like the race organizers did a FANTASTIC job trying to fix it. They arrived around a half hour after I finished and I was able to pick one up. Not a big deal at all.
My time was excellent and my mini sub-1:50 streak continued, but I was hoping to come close to 1:40 at this race. I decided to do a revenge race the next week at another race I'm familiar with.
Next race: Buckeye Half Marathon- Cuyahoga Fall, OH
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