Parlor City Trot Half Marathon Recap

This past Saturday I ran my first half marathon in two years, the Parlor City Trot. I had never participated in this race in the past, but I had heard many good things about it. This is the recap of my race experience.

The Parlor City Trot is the first of two halves I have signed up for in the month of September. My original intention for the Parlor City Trot was to make it a training run leading up to the Fort4Fitness Half Marathon. This changed slightly when a friend of mine, Todd, asked if I wanted to tag along as he trained to lead a pace group for the Fort4Fitness. His pace was going to be 48 seconds/mile faster than my original plan, but still 40 seconds slower than my goal pace I was planning to run at the end of the month. I agreed enthusiastically!

The train wreck that was my half marathon all began to derail the night before. I am a big fantasy football fan. One of my league's I am involved in had it's draft set for 10:45 on Friday night. Being a responsible adult I told myself that I would set my team up for autodraft, knowing I needed all the rest I could get for the race. As the evening progressed, the mindset shifted to, "I'll just draft the first few players and then let the computer pick." Right before the draft began, I broke. I attended the entire draft and did not get to bed until 12:30 in the morning. Bad move! Four hours later, I awake. Groggy, I stumble around preparing. Todd arrives at 5:45 to pick me up to car pool to the race.

The forecast stated that it would be in the 70's and rainy. This was opposite of the actual weather that presented itself. It was 75-80 during the race itself, insanely humid, and not a drop of rain. The warm-up itself made my breathing rapid. Not a good sign.

The race begins, and my legs feel heavy. This isn't unusual at the beginning of a race. I figured they would loosen up after a mile or two. I stick with Todd and his friend Jon who is also training to lead the 8:00 pace group. Things go fairly smooth for the first 5-6 miles. We even pick up some other runners shooting for 8:00 miles and form a small band of runners striving for the same goal. Then...derailment.

I'm used to the intake of sports drink and gel packs during my long runs. I went without during the race expecting at least the sports drink to be found along the race course. All the race offered was water, which I took with each opportunity. This was not enough to sustain me. After 6 miles with nothing but water, very little sleep, and the heat and humidity, I broke off of my pace group. I knew I could not sustain the effort for another 7 miles.

I tried to play it smart and back off 15 seconds. This worked well for a few miles, but eventually I lost my willpower. 8:15, 8:30, 8:45, 9:00, the times crept slower and slower. I began to take small walk breaks at each water station. By the end I felt as if I were one of the Ironmen I watch on tv on a Sunday afternoon. They are hobbling along, walking/running, doing everything they can just to finish. With one last push, I cross the line.

Thank goodness! It was over! Though I had a horrible race, I did feel accomplished in the end. I know that not everyone can go out and complete 13.1 miles. It's a good step toward my upcoming first marathon in April 2013!

My final results: 40/117 overall, 5/7 in my age group, finished in 1:50:16 with an average mile pace of 8:25.


Race review: Parlor City Trot Half Marathon
Organization: B- (A couple of the mile markers seemed to be off)
Course: A- (Beautiful location)
Perks: D (Only water on the course, no finisher's medal, no tech shirt)
Excitement: C+ (Nothing real thrilling, but not completely boring either)
Overall: C+ (I will personally not run this race again, but it's not horrible by any means)

Praise the Lord and run on!

The look on my face pretty much summarizes my race. I'm the one looking like a highlighter FYI.