First off 2012 highlights. It was a good year of running. No injuries and I did pick up some speed. Still not fast but did complete a 5K in 25:34 which was way better than 2011 30+. Completed one half marathon, the Tobacco Trail Half in Cary, NC. It's a great event but I have other plans this year. Finished the Krispy Kreme Challenge in the under 1 hour time. Probably my last one of those since I was diagnosed with Celiac. Did a cool little race in So Cal called Wet and Wild 5K, very fun. They should have a race like that at every water park. Ran the Second Empire Fall Series. Finished around 7th in my age group. My age group 40-44 is stacked with motivated life long runners. Most other age groups I place, my luck. Did get an invite to the awards lunch, so I get good food anyway as an award, just no jacket or something cool.
2012 low lights. I had a goal of running my first marathon and put my name into the NYC Marathon lotto, didn't get in, in hindsight that was a good thing since Hurricane Sandy made that whole thing a disaster. Will try again but with a marathon closer to NC.
On to 2013. My initial plans are to run a marathon and do a century bike ride. I'm guessing the century will be easier but I have run 13 miles and have only biked 34 in one outing. Also, I plan to mix in other events to make it interesting and keep me motivated. Will see and I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.
On another subject, trying to get my guitar playing up to snuff. Taking lessons, might even post a video if I improve enough.
Showing posts with label American Tobacco Trail Half Marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Tobacco Trail Half Marathon. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Tobacco Trail Half Marathon Report
Well 2.5 months ago I decided to run my second half marathon. It was sorta last minute but it was local to me and didn't require travel plans, a plus. So the race I chose, was the Tobacco Trail Half Marathon in Cary, NC. It all went down on March 18, 2012.
My lead up to the race was not conventional. See, I figured my running had gotten good enough that I will just wing it, maybe not the best idea as you will see later. My overall training was my normal, every other day 4 mile run, with some Spinervals on my Kinetic Trainer mixed in. I have a duathlon coming up in a few weeks, so that's why I'm spinning, plus, "I like to suffer a bit." (Lance Armstrong) Additionally, I have had a couple 10 mile runs and a very hilly 7 miles in the last month. So overall, I was feeling like I could beat my time of 2:12 in my first half.
Weeks before race day I thought my co-worker was gonna do the full marathon but he got hit with bad luck. On a positive, I got his parking pass and that worked out like a dream. Always next year when bad luck hits.
Now to race weekend, first the Expo. This was a very nice expo, easy to get packets, I picked up 2. Plenty of people to answer questions, had a good open flow, and as always plenty of stuff to buy. As usual, I bought nothing. Time to go home and get more and more nervous as Sunday approaches.
Saturday night and what to have as a pre-race dinner. I really suck at at food choices and tonight I made the worst. I had a burger and fries from Red Robin, it was good but I knew I would probably pay a price. Now off to bed, I guess this was around 11PM, I had a 4:30 wake up time. Not a lot of sleep but usually enough for me. Not so fast, big thunderstorm and I was wide awake at 2AM, this is really gonna suck. I laid there dozing in and out till 4:30. I woke up, got dressed, gave my lady a kiss, grabbed a bite, took the doggie out and headed to the USA baseball facility where parking and race starts at. By the way, this place is really nice.
Once there, it was time to chill, I had and hour or so till race time. I used the porto, I used the woods, I paced and I chatted to a real runner, a sub-7:30 minute per mile dude. Finally, It's 7AM and time to run.
Quick Banner picture when I made it to start area
The crowd as we are about ready to take off
The gun goes off, and it's time to see what I got. My goal was to go under 2:10 so I found the 2:00 pace guy and figured I'll hang with him for 8 miles. After a few hundred feet I just wanted to run to my truck and go back to bed. This was not gonna be my day, no sleep, poor food choice, and humid post thunderstorm weather was not treating me well. Nothing I can do now other than hope after a few miles I will feel okay. After about 2miles we hit the trail and I was still on pace, I began to think maybe it will all be okay. The number of water and GU tables they had were great but I skipped the first few, figured it was to early. After 5 miles I was still ahead of the 2 hour pace group but not for long. The soft trail, humidity, lack of sleep, maybe lack of being prepared all caught up to me around mile 6, which I hit at 55 minutes, just after pace group blew by me. The half way turnaround was 1:02 and change, still well within goal but I was feeling bad.
Onto the second half of the half marathon. This was a battle to just survive. There were a few of us suffering together, walking/running/praying as we passed each other 50 times before the end of the race. Somewhere around the 10 mile marker the 2:10 group past by, I thought maybe try to keep them close and catch or pass in the last mile. Not to be, I just wanted to quit, I did not. Time to knock out these last couple of miles.
Around mile 11.5 there was this kid playing the trumpet, It made me laugh and sorta helped give me a last bit of go, a weak go but it was go. At mile 12.5 I was passed for about the last time, and I picked it back up to my earlier pace, figured I could go a tad over a half mile pretty strong. I did, and finished in 2:14:50, not exactly what I wanted but not so bad considering how poor I felt from the moment I started running.
Post race, I got my medal, skipped on the shinny wrap (what is that used for? Guess I'll google it), found some food and just chilled for a bit. I then went back to the finish to watch the fast marathoners finish. Seems like they made a wrong turn based on later reports, and the fast ones actually came is a 2:40 and change, still wicked fast in my book but probably slow to them.
An official picture of me crossing the finish line
Me after the race, you would think it was pouring down rain as wet as I am.
My time, thats my time with the highlight
Overall, despite not quite hitting my goal, this was a great, well run event that I will for sure do next year. On to my first duathlon in April!
My lead up to the race was not conventional. See, I figured my running had gotten good enough that I will just wing it, maybe not the best idea as you will see later. My overall training was my normal, every other day 4 mile run, with some Spinervals on my Kinetic Trainer mixed in. I have a duathlon coming up in a few weeks, so that's why I'm spinning, plus, "I like to suffer a bit." (Lance Armstrong) Additionally, I have had a couple 10 mile runs and a very hilly 7 miles in the last month. So overall, I was feeling like I could beat my time of 2:12 in my first half.
Weeks before race day I thought my co-worker was gonna do the full marathon but he got hit with bad luck. On a positive, I got his parking pass and that worked out like a dream. Always next year when bad luck hits.
Now to race weekend, first the Expo. This was a very nice expo, easy to get packets, I picked up 2. Plenty of people to answer questions, had a good open flow, and as always plenty of stuff to buy. As usual, I bought nothing. Time to go home and get more and more nervous as Sunday approaches.
Saturday night and what to have as a pre-race dinner. I really suck at at food choices and tonight I made the worst. I had a burger and fries from Red Robin, it was good but I knew I would probably pay a price. Now off to bed, I guess this was around 11PM, I had a 4:30 wake up time. Not a lot of sleep but usually enough for me. Not so fast, big thunderstorm and I was wide awake at 2AM, this is really gonna suck. I laid there dozing in and out till 4:30. I woke up, got dressed, gave my lady a kiss, grabbed a bite, took the doggie out and headed to the USA baseball facility where parking and race starts at. By the way, this place is really nice.
Once there, it was time to chill, I had and hour or so till race time. I used the porto, I used the woods, I paced and I chatted to a real runner, a sub-7:30 minute per mile dude. Finally, It's 7AM and time to run.
Quick Banner picture when I made it to start area
The gun goes off, and it's time to see what I got. My goal was to go under 2:10 so I found the 2:00 pace guy and figured I'll hang with him for 8 miles. After a few hundred feet I just wanted to run to my truck and go back to bed. This was not gonna be my day, no sleep, poor food choice, and humid post thunderstorm weather was not treating me well. Nothing I can do now other than hope after a few miles I will feel okay. After about 2miles we hit the trail and I was still on pace, I began to think maybe it will all be okay. The number of water and GU tables they had were great but I skipped the first few, figured it was to early. After 5 miles I was still ahead of the 2 hour pace group but not for long. The soft trail, humidity, lack of sleep, maybe lack of being prepared all caught up to me around mile 6, which I hit at 55 minutes, just after pace group blew by me. The half way turnaround was 1:02 and change, still well within goal but I was feeling bad.
Onto the second half of the half marathon. This was a battle to just survive. There were a few of us suffering together, walking/running/praying as we passed each other 50 times before the end of the race. Somewhere around the 10 mile marker the 2:10 group past by, I thought maybe try to keep them close and catch or pass in the last mile. Not to be, I just wanted to quit, I did not. Time to knock out these last couple of miles.
Around mile 11.5 there was this kid playing the trumpet, It made me laugh and sorta helped give me a last bit of go, a weak go but it was go. At mile 12.5 I was passed for about the last time, and I picked it back up to my earlier pace, figured I could go a tad over a half mile pretty strong. I did, and finished in 2:14:50, not exactly what I wanted but not so bad considering how poor I felt from the moment I started running.
Post race, I got my medal, skipped on the shinny wrap (what is that used for? Guess I'll google it), found some food and just chilled for a bit. I then went back to the finish to watch the fast marathoners finish. Seems like they made a wrong turn based on later reports, and the fast ones actually came is a 2:40 and change, still wicked fast in my book but probably slow to them.
An official picture of me crossing the finish line
Me after the race, you would think it was pouring down rain as wet as I am.
Overall, despite not quite hitting my goal, this was a great, well run event that I will for sure do next year. On to my first duathlon in April!
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