37th Drake Relay Run-on-the-ROADS Half Marathon Race Report
Career Events: 102 (22 in 2005).
Career Half Marathons: 14.
States: 12.
Half Marathons in 7 states.
Event gun time: 2:17:17.
Stopwatch time: 2:16:38. PR. (39 seconds across the line as 1,480 finished both the half marathon and the 8K.)
The first half of the weekend half marathon double is complete and I'm currently resting in Lincoln, Nebraska this evening getting ready for tomorrow's half marathon at the Lincoln Marathon.
Friday night I left Houston Intercontinental on Continental, flew to Omaha's Eppley Airfield and then rented a car and drove to West Des Moines, Iowa.
Saturday morning's temperature in Des Moines was a balmy 33 degrees at just before 7 a.m. when I went to pick up my race packet near Drake University's track stadium, the home of the vaunted Drake Relays that were going on this weekend. (By the time I got back to the hotel, it had warmed up to 48 degrees; however, it felt a little bit warmer than that.) Des Moines is also the site to the Houston Striders' 20K nemesis, Dam to Dam, which will be held on June 4th this year.
And to be honest, despite only eclipsing my personal record set 27 days ago by twenty (20) seconds, I felt like I ran pretty well. And the reason why I say that is because the only times that I really walked were in and out of the water stops.
This was one of the cheapest half marathons that you are going to find; however, it was important for me to be able to find events in different states so close to pull off this double. With the online registration fee, it was just $17.50. (I know. You're asking: What did it cost to get there!) And don't ask me what the cost of Sunday's run is!
The first five miles I really felt strong, especially with a good downhill in mile 4 after some slight gradual climbs (honestly, they were fairly minor). At mile 5, I was at 49:22.29, a 9:52/mile pace. I blew my chance at a PR in mile 6 as I rattled off an 11:02.49 mile, the second worst of the morning. Since the course ran through a lot of Des Moines' neighborhoods and everything looked the same, I'm not sure what slowed me down at all.
I really felt like I ran a pretty consistent race. Miles 7 through 10 were 10:40.40, 10:38.69, 10:32.37 and 10:37.82. I knew that I had lost some of my cushion from the first four (4) sub 10-minute miles in miles 11 and 12 though with miles of 10:56.93 and 11:14.44.
I gave myself an opportunity to PR by 20 seconds with a strong last mile. At the mile 12 marker, I was at 2:05:05.43. There was a marker one-tenth of a mile in to signify a mile to go. I covered that tenth of a mile in 1:09.59 to put me at 2:06:15.02. That meant that I needed a 10:43 or better to PR.
The course was setup nice to do so as it was a straightaway then one left turn and you could see the finish line from afar as you could at the Houston Marathon this year. My last mile (10:22.94) was my best since mile 5!
The bottom line: I was pretty happy with how I ran even though I was working through a tight left calf muscle. There was a college group that was giving post-race treatments and the young lady, who went to school at Northwestern College in Iowa, could tell immediately that that calf was tight. I don't think she was too impressed that I was doing another half marathon on Sunday.
As far as the event went, my biggest complaint is that there was no electrolyte replacement at all on the course. Water only! And the water stops were really not supported well. The one between mile 10 and 11, which included a long, yet not too steep of an incline, had workers standing on the right side of the street near the table while runners, because of passing traffic on their right shoulders, were hugging the left hand curb. I passed the water stop and perhaps I should have passed one or two more to get under 2:16.
Police support was excellent early in the race. As the course winded on, it became less and less or only at major intersections. There were a number of times that I had to holler "Car back!" to warn runners in front of me.
Packet pickup was good. Found my race number on the wall easily, got it, the T-shirt (which the design was simple with no advertising but the XL was a bit small), a pair of socks (unique) and a couple of snacks (Fig Newtons and a Balance Bar). The post-race spread was acceptable (standard fare, but the chocolate chip cookie was the best) and the results were posted to a wall timely. The massage treatments were excellent and the finish line area was not chaotic as it is in some races when you have runners getting out of order in the chute on a non-chip timed event.
Parking was a bit of a challenge as the lots around Drake were charging $7 to park because of the track meet going on all day. But you could park on certain streets and walk a little bit for free.
I got back to my hotel, the Fairfield Inn & Suites in West Des Moines, at about 11 a.m., checked out by 12:30 p.m. and was in Council Bluffs, Iowa eating breakfast at the Cracker Barrel by 2:30 p.m.
After checking into the Fairfield Inn here in Lincoln, I drove to Memorial Stadium, got my race packet for Sunday's event and had some of the event-sponsored Pasta-Thon before heading back to the hotel for the evening.
Career Half Marathons: 14.
States: 12.
Half Marathons in 7 states.
Event gun time: 2:17:17.
Stopwatch time: 2:16:38. PR. (39 seconds across the line as 1,480 finished both the half marathon and the 8K.)
The first half of the weekend half marathon double is complete and I'm currently resting in Lincoln, Nebraska this evening getting ready for tomorrow's half marathon at the Lincoln Marathon.
Friday night I left Houston Intercontinental on Continental, flew to Omaha's Eppley Airfield and then rented a car and drove to West Des Moines, Iowa.
Saturday morning's temperature in Des Moines was a balmy 33 degrees at just before 7 a.m. when I went to pick up my race packet near Drake University's track stadium, the home of the vaunted Drake Relays that were going on this weekend. (By the time I got back to the hotel, it had warmed up to 48 degrees; however, it felt a little bit warmer than that.) Des Moines is also the site to the Houston Striders' 20K nemesis, Dam to Dam, which will be held on June 4th this year.
And to be honest, despite only eclipsing my personal record set 27 days ago by twenty (20) seconds, I felt like I ran pretty well. And the reason why I say that is because the only times that I really walked were in and out of the water stops.
This was one of the cheapest half marathons that you are going to find; however, it was important for me to be able to find events in different states so close to pull off this double. With the online registration fee, it was just $17.50. (I know. You're asking: What did it cost to get there!) And don't ask me what the cost of Sunday's run is!
The first five miles I really felt strong, especially with a good downhill in mile 4 after some slight gradual climbs (honestly, they were fairly minor). At mile 5, I was at 49:22.29, a 9:52/mile pace. I blew my chance at a PR in mile 6 as I rattled off an 11:02.49 mile, the second worst of the morning. Since the course ran through a lot of Des Moines' neighborhoods and everything looked the same, I'm not sure what slowed me down at all.
I really felt like I ran a pretty consistent race. Miles 7 through 10 were 10:40.40, 10:38.69, 10:32.37 and 10:37.82. I knew that I had lost some of my cushion from the first four (4) sub 10-minute miles in miles 11 and 12 though with miles of 10:56.93 and 11:14.44.
I gave myself an opportunity to PR by 20 seconds with a strong last mile. At the mile 12 marker, I was at 2:05:05.43. There was a marker one-tenth of a mile in to signify a mile to go. I covered that tenth of a mile in 1:09.59 to put me at 2:06:15.02. That meant that I needed a 10:43 or better to PR.
The course was setup nice to do so as it was a straightaway then one left turn and you could see the finish line from afar as you could at the Houston Marathon this year. My last mile (10:22.94) was my best since mile 5!
The bottom line: I was pretty happy with how I ran even though I was working through a tight left calf muscle. There was a college group that was giving post-race treatments and the young lady, who went to school at Northwestern College in Iowa, could tell immediately that that calf was tight. I don't think she was too impressed that I was doing another half marathon on Sunday.
As far as the event went, my biggest complaint is that there was no electrolyte replacement at all on the course. Water only! And the water stops were really not supported well. The one between mile 10 and 11, which included a long, yet not too steep of an incline, had workers standing on the right side of the street near the table while runners, because of passing traffic on their right shoulders, were hugging the left hand curb. I passed the water stop and perhaps I should have passed one or two more to get under 2:16.
Police support was excellent early in the race. As the course winded on, it became less and less or only at major intersections. There were a number of times that I had to holler "Car back!" to warn runners in front of me.
Packet pickup was good. Found my race number on the wall easily, got it, the T-shirt (which the design was simple with no advertising but the XL was a bit small), a pair of socks (unique) and a couple of snacks (Fig Newtons and a Balance Bar). The post-race spread was acceptable (standard fare, but the chocolate chip cookie was the best) and the results were posted to a wall timely. The massage treatments were excellent and the finish line area was not chaotic as it is in some races when you have runners getting out of order in the chute on a non-chip timed event.
Parking was a bit of a challenge as the lots around Drake were charging $7 to park because of the track meet going on all day. But you could park on certain streets and walk a little bit for free.
I got back to my hotel, the Fairfield Inn & Suites in West Des Moines, at about 11 a.m., checked out by 12:30 p.m. and was in Council Bluffs, Iowa eating breakfast at the Cracker Barrel by 2:30 p.m.
After checking into the Fairfield Inn here in Lincoln, I drove to Memorial Stadium, got my race packet for Sunday's event and had some of the event-sponsored Pasta-Thon before heading back to the hotel for the evening.
posted by WalkSports.com | 10:21 PM
2 Comments:
First- Congrats on your PR. Way to go! Second- back to back events again!?!?! As I sit here nursing my still sore legs from yesterday's 18-miler I find that pretty daunting! Best of luck today!!!
I just wanted to welcome you to the Iowa and the Half Marathon. I ran it as well today and had many of the same thoughts as you did. I wish you the best in your run tomorrow in Lincoln. My legs are in no condition to run at all -- at least not until next week's 15k trail race.
Good luck!
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