Yesterday I ran the Corporate Cup Half Marathon, which took place in Charlotte. I was a little worried about the hills, I'm not gonna lie. Charlotte is a very hilly city and I was told that this race was particularly hilly!
Packet pickup was at two locations prior to the race, at the YMCA, which was an hour away, or the Midtown location of Run For Your Life, which was 40 minutes away and easier to get to. I went with RFYL, even though the parking lot is bizarre and hard to drive through.
Pick up was super easy, I was in and out in 5 minutes.
Saturday morning I woke up early, I definitely suffered from race sleep, but I got in some good sleep the few nights before so I wasn't feeling groggy. The hubs and I headed out to Charlotte and had no problems getting into the parking garage. Smooth sailing!
I met up with my running club at the pre race expo which was, thankfully, inside! It was only 28 degrees out so I was glad to be able to hang inside until the race started.
I also met up with Christie, who is one of the awesome ladies I coach. She was running the 5k and came early for the group photo. Christie PRd at the 5k, I'm so proud of her!
Before long it was time to start. The course was indeed very hilly, right from the start. I forgot my Garmin, so I was using my Fitbit Blaze. It did the job very nicely, although I really missed my Garmin!
I was definitely at the back of the pack. The first two miles I had very tight shins, so I was afraid of falling behind. Before I even hit mile one, the pace car was in front of me. My first mile was under 13 minutes, and we were supposed to have 13:45 per mile, so this aggravated me. I passed him by mile 2 and never saw him again.
I ran with a few ladies for a little while at a time, but I promised myself not to pick up any strays and run my own race. This is a bad habit of mine, I will start running with someone who is worried about their pace and when they fall behind, I slow down and run with them. This is ok when it's a friend, but I decided not to do this for strangers.
My race. My pace.
The police presence was on point. We ran through some very heavy traffic but only once did I feel like I might get hit. This one cop was on his cell phone and didn't see the car turn towards us. We were in a neighborhood where there were cars parked in the street and this old dude decided he didn't care about runners, he was gonna plow down that road no matter what. Thanks old dude.
We also ran through some school areas, and there were plenty of areas with parks and trees which was a nice change from the city buildings. I recognized parts at the beginning and end, but most of the middle miles were through new territory for me.
Soon we were heading back into the city and familiar territory. Around mile 11, a guy passed me and reminded that the last 2 miles are uphill. Yay.
He wasn't wrong! Most of the last two miles are uphill, although there were some breaks. The course was also long, so I hit 13.1 almost a quarter mile before I finished.
This was about the time I got a message from Christie, who was wondering if she missed me finish. I told her I was almost there, and when I turned the corner, there she was. She was waiting for me, along with Sara, another coach from our club. They ran me in, which was so much fun, and I got my bling.
Christie gave me a Kind bar, and there were some people there from Natalie's, a local juice company. I grabbed orange juice and lemonade. I never saw any food, or any water either, but it's possible I just missed it. They were packing up the finish, and people were still behind me. I hit 13.1 at 2:51:17 and crossed the finish in 2:54, so they should not have been packing up. I still had 6 more minutes. Ten people finished behind me.
The hubs actually went to the finish, but since he told me he was staying in the warm car, I didn't look for him and he never saw me finish. ooooops.
I might run this race again someday, but apparently Myrtle Beach is usually the same day, and it's flat, so I'm thinking of running that next year. Time will tell!
I may have celebrated with some chocolate last night, we went out with friends and all shared. What was I celebrating? Finishing my 48th half marathon, and beating last year's best time, and annihilating last year's best hilly race time as well!
Did you race this weekend?
Packet pickup was at two locations prior to the race, at the YMCA, which was an hour away, or the Midtown location of Run For Your Life, which was 40 minutes away and easier to get to. I went with RFYL, even though the parking lot is bizarre and hard to drive through.
Pick up was super easy, I was in and out in 5 minutes.
Saturday morning I woke up early, I definitely suffered from race sleep, but I got in some good sleep the few nights before so I wasn't feeling groggy. The hubs and I headed out to Charlotte and had no problems getting into the parking garage. Smooth sailing!
I met up with my running club at the pre race expo which was, thankfully, inside! It was only 28 degrees out so I was glad to be able to hang inside until the race started.
I also met up with Christie, who is one of the awesome ladies I coach. She was running the 5k and came early for the group photo. Christie PRd at the 5k, I'm so proud of her!
Before long it was time to start. The course was indeed very hilly, right from the start. I forgot my Garmin, so I was using my Fitbit Blaze. It did the job very nicely, although I really missed my Garmin!
I was definitely at the back of the pack. The first two miles I had very tight shins, so I was afraid of falling behind. Before I even hit mile one, the pace car was in front of me. My first mile was under 13 minutes, and we were supposed to have 13:45 per mile, so this aggravated me. I passed him by mile 2 and never saw him again.
I ran with a few ladies for a little while at a time, but I promised myself not to pick up any strays and run my own race. This is a bad habit of mine, I will start running with someone who is worried about their pace and when they fall behind, I slow down and run with them. This is ok when it's a friend, but I decided not to do this for strangers.
My race. My pace.
The police presence was on point. We ran through some very heavy traffic but only once did I feel like I might get hit. This one cop was on his cell phone and didn't see the car turn towards us. We were in a neighborhood where there were cars parked in the street and this old dude decided he didn't care about runners, he was gonna plow down that road no matter what. Thanks old dude.
We also ran through some school areas, and there were plenty of areas with parks and trees which was a nice change from the city buildings. I recognized parts at the beginning and end, but most of the middle miles were through new territory for me.
Soon we were heading back into the city and familiar territory. Around mile 11, a guy passed me and reminded that the last 2 miles are uphill. Yay.
He wasn't wrong! Most of the last two miles are uphill, although there were some breaks. The course was also long, so I hit 13.1 almost a quarter mile before I finished.
This was about the time I got a message from Christie, who was wondering if she missed me finish. I told her I was almost there, and when I turned the corner, there she was. She was waiting for me, along with Sara, another coach from our club. They ran me in, which was so much fun, and I got my bling.
Christie gave me a Kind bar, and there were some people there from Natalie's, a local juice company. I grabbed orange juice and lemonade. I never saw any food, or any water either, but it's possible I just missed it. They were packing up the finish, and people were still behind me. I hit 13.1 at 2:51:17 and crossed the finish in 2:54, so they should not have been packing up. I still had 6 more minutes. Ten people finished behind me.
The hubs actually went to the finish, but since he told me he was staying in the warm car, I didn't look for him and he never saw me finish. ooooops.
I might run this race again someday, but apparently Myrtle Beach is usually the same day, and it's flat, so I'm thinking of running that next year. Time will tell!
I may have celebrated with some chocolate last night, we went out with friends and all shared. What was I celebrating? Finishing my 48th half marathon, and beating last year's best time, and annihilating last year's best hilly race time as well!
Did you race this weekend?
posted from Bloggeroid
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