Holy Cow Batman! It’s Humid
I knew I was in for a ‘fun’ time when the forecast called for rain. I like to run in rain, but not race in the rain. With rain comes chaffing, and that’s not good. It did not rain more than a sprinkle on race day; it was still very humid, about 100%.

I was well prepared for the race. I was rested and ready to get my first sub 1:50 half. This course is harder than your normal half to get your PR. The trail includes a short trail section and some stairs and they both slow you down a little. I thought that even with that, I would be able to run my fastest half. My best so far is this year’s Colonial Half Marathon in Williamsburg. That time was 1:50:04.

Starting FastI was in the first of two waves and got near the front of the pack for the start. I needed to average 8:23’s to get my PR, my first mile was 7:14. It was really fast, but I felt great anyway. It didn’t bother me to start that fast if I felt good versus starting slower and not feeling good.

I knew a few other runners at the event Kyra, Alyssa, Snider, Jessica and Cass. I used to work with Kyra a long time ago and she has recently (I think) been running. She is training for the Richmond Marathon (good luck!). I always think I am faster than people until proven otherwise. I saw her at the start and before we had gone a half mile I passed her. Of course I felt smug passing her. I like being faster people I know. I am competitive and unfortunately my friends I compete against are better than me at almost everything, so I take what I can, when I can.

The first mile ends somewhere near the entrance of the Vida course in Byrd Park. I was feeling good, but decided to back off of the sub 8’s and run at an easier pace. As we left the Vida course for the road, Kyra passed me and I never saw her again. So, ah, yeah, she’s a bunch faster than I am.

I’d talk about Cass passing me, but he never did. I was never in front of him to have him pass me. He came in 16th overall and ran 7 minute/miles. Never saw him till the finish. I think he took a nap in the time it took me to finish.

Who’s Slow?
One of my running partners, Megan, told me to run fast to the bridge because you don’t want to get caught behind any slow people. I wasn’t really worried about that as I WAS the slow person holding other people up. I was passed by two people on the bridge. After we cross the bridge we turn onto a short section of trail that takes us under the Nickel Bridge and over to Riverside Dr.

I run these trails all the time and the guy that passed me apparently doesn’t. He started tippy-toeing it down the trail and I cut the corner and passed him. The lady in front of him wasn’t easy to pass. She was a faster runner than me, but couldn’t run a trail at all. She was delicately placing her feet and still almost fell. Coming out from under the bridge you go up a short hill and she turned to tell me how tricky the section was and I flew passed her. I was able to put some distance on them and ran the rest of that too-short trail to the road.

Before a mile was passed the lady passed me again.

Killing Time
The middle of this race is very familiar. It’s a route I run all the time, but I normally have someone there for conversation. We stayed on Riverside Dr to the 42nd St. stairs which we crossed down to the gravel road. We then ran on the gravel road to the fire bridge to cross over to Belle Isle.

On the gravel road I was passed by other folks that I knew. Coach Vicki is recovering from an injury and made it look easy as she passed me. Another guy I ran with Wednesday mornings and he passed me as easily on race day as he normally did.

The middle of the race was where I picked up my yo-yo lady. She and I started passing each other by Brown’s Island and didn’t stop until the last mile of the race where she pulled away from me.

Fading…I felt really good until I crossed over Belle Isle. I faded a bit there and lost steam. Before we hit the 14th street bridge I had my second wind. I had that second wind until somewhere after mile 10. I remember thinking that I had 25 minutes for a 5k and that my PR was within reach.

Soon though, my energy started waning again. By the time I passed Hollywood Cemetery I was feeling low. Because of the humidity, all of the sweat on my body was staying there. My clothes weighed a ton and my shoes were squishing with sweat, dew and puddles. I could feel the blisters forming on my toes (ended with six of them). In summary, I was falling apart.

The last section of race goes through a neighborhood. That was the longest section of the race for me. Most of the race had good views of the river, or woods, or something. This section just looked like a bunch of runners on a death march. I wasn’t the only one not looking good at this point.

Can I Finish Please?
The finishing neighborhood confused me and I wasn’t sure where I was and which direction I was facing. I kept running hoping to find a landmark that would indicate how much farther to go. When I finally realized where I was I was both happy and sad. Happy because the race was almost over, but sad because there was a pain-in-the-ass hill left to run. I never walked during the race, but I thought about it here.

I made the turn into the Maymont and looked at my watch. I realized that I was going to miss my PR. I turned the final corner sprinted-ish to the finish line. I came in at 1:51:51.

Final Thoughts
I liked the race and I would have done better had the conditions favorable. I’m still happy with my time. The time falls right into the middle of my 5 half’s. I don’t know that I will do the run again though. It’s just not my thing. I wish it was all trail, I don’t like running on the gravel road, or through the neighborhood by the park.

The important thing was that I beat Snider. I need to make sure that I beat him in every race where we compete. I can’t let him have that edge!

Mile times:1, 7:14, 160, 173
2, 7:59, 168, 175
3-4, 14:22, 164, 180 (I missed mile 3 marker [4 had to have been shorter than 1 mile])
5, 10:45, 163, 175 (I think this was longer than 1 mile)
6, 8:36, 166, 172
7, 8:33, 163, 172
8-9, 17:29, 164, 176 (missed 8 )
10,9:14, 166, 176
11-12, 18:50, 167, 178 (missed 11)
13, 8:09, 169, 180

<a href="http://www.rvasports.com/2008/09/maymont-half-marathon/">More race recaps here.