2013 Greater Louisville Half Marathon Race Report

2/10/13

Today was the inaugural Greater Louisville Half Marathon in Jeffersonville. For the first year, it was overall pretty well done. Here is how it went . . .

Well leading up to the race I had spent a whole week doing nothing due to illness. 7 full days of NOTHING! Yikes! I knew this would hurt my pace but I was hoping it wouldn't hurt it too much. The week before the race I ran about 15 miles. Not much. My original goal was to beat my November time of 1:55 however, that was starting to seem unrealistic.

Saturday - Well I had hoped to get in a short easy run but it just didn't happen although I have no good excuse. So I did errands (and I took a nap!) and picked up the race packet. This was pretty uneventful. Packet pickup was located at the Sheraton in Jeffersonville. When I went, I didn't have to wait at all. I got my bib #, my chip timer, my bag of advertisements, and my shirt. Sweet, it's a tech shirt. Bummer, it's unisex so it's way too big. Saturday night, I did not choose the best pre-race meal - Moby Dick fish - it's yummy but probably not the best choice!

Sunday - The clock went off at 6 am but I was already awake. I did not sleep well at all - maybe I shouldn't have taken that nap after all. I eat my normal PB&J sandwich and get dressed to go to the race. I get ready to leave and get the car out of the garage only to find out that it's raining. I had not planned on that at all. So back in the house I went to get my running hat, my old shoes, and my running jacket. Now I have no idea what to wear during the race. It's about 40 degrees which is great except for the rain. I get to the Sheraton and change my shoes to my old shoes as I don't want my new ones getting wet. I walk in to the hotel to find a bathroom and run in to several friends that I had not seen in awhile. After catching up I went back to the car and decided to change what I had planned on wearing. Well, take my advice - don't do that!! I had planned on a tank top with a long sleeve running shirt and my capri running tights. At the last minute I decided to lose the tank top, keep the long sleeve shirt and wear the jacket. I go back in to the hotel as it is almost time to start the race and immediately regret my decision to change my outfit. The running jacket is great when it's cold but it's not that cold and I am already getting warm. Oh, and it's not raining now either.

Time for the race to start so we all head outside and the race begins. My Garmin lost the signal right away because we started under some part of the hotel :( So my garmin says I am running a 6:51 pace - well that cannot be right! I don't think I can run that pace in my dreams! The garmin clicks mile 1 long before I hit the mile marker. Bummer. Looks like it will be off the entire race. I decide to just try to keep my pace around 9 minutes/mile. We run along the river which was cool and would be really great on a pretty day. I am now running with another lady and we just pass mile 5 when the guy in the lead passed us on his way back to the finish line. Well, at least I made it to mile 5 before he went by!

Another mile and a half and I am at the turn around. There was no one at the turn around watching the runners - I found this odd as what would keep someone from turning early? Oh well, halfway now. Around mile 8.5 a lady starts to pass me - well I don't want that to happen so I try to just hang with her for as long as I can (turns out I could all the way through the finish line). When we hit the next mile marker that should have been for mile 9 - it read 10! Well, either I missed a mile and am running really fast or that is just wrong. It was definitely wrong as soon there were two mile 11's! Around mile 11 the girl I was running with and I passed an elderly man who was running the race too. He said to us that if we keep running we will still be running when we are his age - he was 70! Wow! Not sure I will be running then but if I'm still around, I hope to be! Can't believe it took me 11 miles to pass him, hope he doesn't pass me back in the last couple of miles!

Mile 12 - that one was faster and I can definitely feel it - that week off is definitely being felt at this point. That's ok, one more mile and I still have someone to run with! Her goal was to get under 2 hours which was my revised goal also. So we just pushed through it together. She had her iPhone on her arm playing music so that was nice as I forgot my iPod :(

We're getting close now, we turn left and there is one more turn and then the finish line. We make that last turn and the clock says 1:59:20 something. We pick it up and finish at 1:59:35. Wow. That was tough. My legs are DEAD! But we did it and in under 2 hours :)

Overall I thought the race was pretty well done for the first year. It started only a couple of minutes late and there were plenty of water stops with both water and gatorade. The course had some nice views of the river and would be really great on a sunny day. The results were posted very quickly. I think I saw a photographer at the finish line too. My only complaints were the mile markers being off for a few miles and the shirt - I really think all races should have gender specific shirts.

What did I learn today? I shouldn't second guess my outfit at the last minute. I won't do that again as I did get too warm on the run today. I probably should not have wore my old shoes as my legs and feet are hurting - those shoes just need to be retired! And most of all - I have to try really hard to not get sick and miss another week before my next half!!! Which is already scheduled for March 23rd . . .