Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos - 8 and 9 December

[Big Vic]

Saturday, 8 Dec



Sunday, 9 Dec

9 - Danhockey04 () Florida Holiday Halfathon, Madeira Beach, FL
9 - DisneyParrothead () MetroPCS Dallas Half Marathon
9 - Stitch_lover-Sith () Honolulu Marathon, Honolulu, HI


GO! WISH Team GO!

 

[cewait]

Good luck to all---

I am running the Bryan/College Station Half on Sunday

 

[jimandami]

Since no one else races today, thought I would post mine! DH and I did a local 5-mile trail race, which is the first in a series. I finished 3rd for females so was happy about that. They have a points race and I hope to finish top 3!

 

[Stitch_lover_Sith]

Honolulu Marathon down. WDW to go.

 

[cewait]

What a day to run the BCS Marathon. First, the hotel we where we stayed was full of Tx AM students studying in the lounge area. We convinced these folks to stop studying long enough to watch the Heisman Awards. Local favorite, Johnny Football won the award and the lounge erupted in cheers.

Fast forward to this morning...

At 5 AM the temps in College Station were 70F and humidity over 90%. There was a strong southern breeze. This is the second year for this race and frankly the RD mis-guessed the size when it came to start and finish line organization. I was going to run with my brother so we lined up between the 2:45 and 3:00 pace groups (half). The start line issue one where the porta potties were lined up on one side of the starting area. I am sure that with last year's numbers the potties were behind all starters. This AM we were in the middle of the potty lines. It was rather confusing. I convince my brother to come up to the 2 hour pace group and just run his race from the start. That got us out of the lines.

The race started off about 3 minutes early, very unusual but the RD was trying everything he could to get us out on the road due tot he yellow flag conditions for the race. I kind of dumped my brother after about a mile and as I saw the 2:30 pace group go by and pull off. He said he did not want to hold me up so I took off. Unfortunately, the 2:30 group was running every bit of a 2:10 half, more than I wanted to run for a training run. I decided to hang on and did for about 6 miles. What I seem to have forgotten since graduating from AM 32 years ago is that College Station is not flat. In fact, it is extremely rolling with a nice set of hills in the middle miles of the race.

As we passed a time and temp sign in the middle miles, the temp had climbed up to 75F. Fortunately, the skies remained cloudy and spit a few sprinkles now and then. I dropped way off pace after letting the pace group go. I was never caught by the 2:45 pace group and finished just in front of where they would have finished.

The finish line was a real mess. Once you crossed the line and received a medal, you had to move backwards up the course along a sidewalk used by most spectators. Access to the 'athlete village' was well controlled and one had to use a pull tag off the bib to gain access. The killer was that runners had to work through a 30 minute line just to get water. Not a good situation.

Other than the layout snafus, the race was a really nice find. It is a small race. Has a great heavy weight long sleeved shirt for all entrants and a great spinner finisher medal and a nice finisher tech tee. The course was rolling, more than I expected but gives a target for next fall. The cool thing was the hundreds of Aggies who made some reference to Johnny Football along the course. Also, I was reliving my college days as I ran many of the streets that I used to run. The first couple miles passed one apartment where I lived and the last 2 miles passed a duplex. The highlight of the course was the loop around Campus sites and landmarks.

While my results were not as expected, they really were. Using the 130 combined temp and humidity formula would have slowed me by 2 minutes a mile. I ran the race just under a bad training pace. So much for formulas... other than I am still fighting dehydration tonight.

Overall, a great small race.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Well, that was ugly yesterday. It was humid and about mid-60s at the start in Dallas. We started on time, and the saving grace was with the cool front coming in later yesterday, there was a nice breeze for most of the race, and the sun didn't poke thru the clouds until after I passed mile 11. The course was boring and after mile 10, I was hurting. I'm afraid it's my IT Band, but I finished Now I'm doing the post-race shuffle around work and stretching whenever I can.

 

[cewait]

Well, that was ugly yesterday. It was humid and about mid-60s at the start in Dallas. We started on time, and the saving grace was with the cool front coming in later yesterday, there was a nice breeze for most of the race, and the sun didn't poke thru the clouds until after I passed mile 11. The course was boring and after mile 10, I was hurting. I'm afraid it's my IT Band, but I finished Now I'm doing the post-race shuffle around work and stretching whenever I can.

Good show. Hydrate as well today. It will help flush the system

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Good show. Hydrate as well today. It will help flush the system

Thanks Coach. I was kind of hoarding water and Powerade bottles once I got home because we didn't get those at the finish. They had cups of water and Powerade, and then chocolate milk inside. I can't help but compare the finish line to Disney, and it doesn't compare. But I got through it and will now rest for a while before training for my next one.

 

[Stitch_lover_Sith]

So for the full race report from Honolulu Marathon. I would like to start by saying it was the 40th anniversary of the race. Stayed at a hotel in Waikiki so we wouldn't have to get up stupid early for the 5am start. Got up and out of hotel about 4:15am. Walked to start about 1 mile away. It was a warm very humid morning, about 78-79 and 80% humidity. Got to start at about 4:45am so had to stand waiting for about 15 minutes. There were no corrals so it was a mass start. For the start there was about five minutes of fireworks. Better than Disney. Took 15 minutes to cross the start line.

The first few miles were beautiful. Ran towards downtown Honolulu and saw the Christmas lights. About mile four tripped on something in the road and almost fell. Twisted my knee doing this. Then we were running through Waikiki, not many people out cheering but still fun. Went over Diamondhead as the sun was coming up.

Then ran out towards Koko head, at mile 13 the person I was running with was going to walk to rest of the way so told me to go ahead. This was at about 2:45 on the clock. So I went ahead. Sped up and hit mile 18 at about 3:15 on the clock. Was able to keep this faster pace till I steped on a closed gel packet at mile 23. It popped and twisted my knee a second time. Walked from this point to finish. Finished in 5:25.

The finish line was confusing. You crossed got a shell lei then had to walk about 3/4 of a mile to pick up shirt and medal. No finish line food was left by the time I finished so got a glass of Gatorade. Picked up my shirt and medal and walked back to where spectators could be to wait for person I did race with. By this point it was 87 and sunny.

Post race was moving well. Had treat meal. Took nap and packed up to drive home. Was super tired so went to bed about 8pm. Still was moving and feeling fine. Woke up today not being able to bend or straighten the knee I twisted twice. Oh well.

Only thing Honolulu did better than Disney was fireworks, and I mean really someone did better than Disney. Looking forward to Goofy in 34 days.