Martian Half Marathon Race Results

First let me start by giving a HUGE shout out to Morgan of cautionredheadrunning for organizing the blogger meet up and putting together an awesome swag bag!  You rock!  Even with injury you still came to support us while rocking your fabulous be-dazzled crutches.  Thanks again! 

I think they should change the name to Martian Half Marathon + .30 miles.  The course was officially longer, so all those who thought their Garmins were wrong, they were not.  The race directors posted the results for 13.40 so I ended up meeting my goal and running a sub 1:40 half.  Yay! 

Guess I should start the beginning. 

I arrived early so I could park and meet Morgan and the rest of the bloggers at the meeting spot by 7:45am.  I parked about a half mile from the start and ran to the meeting spot.  It was a chilly morning but I could not complain.  They originally called for rain/snow.  Instead it was about 32 degrees and dry!   Anyway, it was very easy to spot Morgan.  Not only did she have a sign but she had some pretty crutches and balloons.  What a rock star she is.  Injury and all, she still came out to support us and even put together a fun swag bag that included a bondi band and Arctic ease!  Sweetness!! 

I also got to meet and chat with Jessie of Live~Love~Run, Nicole of runnernic, Jen of solitudestew and many others whom I am forgetting.  (I will add them to this post as I remember so you can check out all of these fabulous blogs) I made a run back to the car to drop off my stuff and get ready for the race.  With the run to and from my car I was able to get in about a mile warm up.  I could have used more as I was pretty darn cold.

I was pretty much on my own from the start so I ended up popping in my ear buds and listening to music.  At the 8 mile mark is where I noticed that my Garmin read 8.40 miles.  I thought to myself "dang, I must be all over the place today".  At mile 12 I took out my ear buds so I could hear the spectators at the finish shoot.  When I crossed the finish line the time was 1:40:10. Not bad.  I wanted to break a 1:40 half but was satisfied with this time. 

I received my medal, I saw a friend from the Y.  He asked how I did and pointed out that the course was long.  So it wasn't just me!  As I spoke with more runners, everyone had 13.40.  I really had broke 1:40 like I set out to do.

As I was standing around by the finish line watching more finishers come in, I got to see Steph of Steph's 50 marathon challenge finish the marathon.  What a crazy marathoner and strong runner this woman is!  We chatted for a bit and I learned she had to run a few extra miles too.  So we ran them together.  I must admit, this is one of the highlights of my day!  I have been following her blog and her marathon journey for a while now so having the opportunity to run with her was so exciting!  I am sure she felt like she was on an interview.  I asked about her training, what she eats, how she balances training & work, when she started running, etc...  Sorry about that Steph!! 

I ended up hanging around the finish area with Steph waiting for her mom to finish.  We also discovered that we both had placed.  She, being 1st in her age group for the marathon and me being 5th in my age group for the half marathon. 

We snagged these cool martini glasses.



















All in all, it was a successful event!  I got to meet some wonderful ladies from the blogging community, saw a friend from high school run his first half and chatted with the infamous Steph!  It was a good day.

Official Results:
Time:  1:40:10 - 13.40 miles
Pace:  7:29 pace
AG Place: 5th/189
Overall: 171/1836

And here are a couple photos from the day. 

Jessie & I before the race (She looks great, I look sleepy). 

"borrowed" from a web site ;-)  heading towards the finish line

To race or not to race, that is the question

I am signed up for the Martian Half Marathon on Saturday and I am not sure how I intend to run this race.  My training schedule has a long run of 17 miles for this weekend.  I refuse to run the half and not get in the additional 4 miles I need to meet my scheduled long run.  As much as I'd like to beat my previous half time from March 20th, I doubt I will be able to.

I have come up with a few options for Saturday, I just need to choose which one will work best for me.

Option #1: arrive extra early to run 4 slow & easy miles prior to the race.  run the half as fast as I possibly can. 

Option #2: arrive at my normal time (1 hour prior) and run 4 slow & easy miles after the race.  run the half has fast as I possibly can.

Option #3: use this half as a training run and stay out on the course for an extra 4 miles. (instead of turning around at the half turn around point, continue on for another 2 miles before turning back).  My time will show much slower than the norm for a half but I will know this is because I actually ran 17.1, not 13.1.

Option #4: arrive at my normal time (1 hour prior) and run 2 slow & easy miles before the race and another 2 slow & easy miles after the race.  Run the half as fast as I possibly can.


So there you have it.  My break down on how I want to run the Martian half.  I told myself that I must know how I intend to "race" this event by Friday evening.

How do you think I should run this half marathon?