BHM 26.2 Half Marathon
April 28, 2019
Race started at 7am. Our email told us to be there by 6am. I arrived about 6:15am. The walk to the start line took about 10 minutes from where I had to park. I went ahead and found an empty porta potty and then went to find a seat on a bench. I ended up sharing one with a lady that drove up from Pensacola. She walks half-marathons. I was very impressed. I asked why she chose one so far away and she said she has to be very selective because there are races with strict time limits. She chooses those that give you the full marathon time of 6 hours to do the half. She is registered to do the Wine & Dine Half this fall. So I told her about my Disney experience in January. Then it was time to head to the start line. There was only one corral so I moved towards the back. I ended up very close to some 3 hour pacers. I observed a moment to see if they were doing the half or the full. I heard one tell another runner they were doing the half so I decided I’d try to hang with them as long as I could.
So off we went. I, having not done any math on it, didn’t realize what kind of pace that would have to mean. Quickly I realized we were running my long run pace. I was excited. There were two pacers, me and older gentleman named David. I decided immediately that I would set my app and music to run but I would leave my earbuds out until I had to break away. We quickly struck up a conversation and just chatted right along for the first couple of miles. Then we hit a hill, which seemed more like a mountain. The entire 3rd mile was up hill. It was brutal even at the slower pace. Thankfully what goes up, must go down. Everything was going pretty good again until about mile 8 when we hit some more hills. I had to take some walk breaks. Again, we got a nice downhill trek and I caught back up. The pacers did take the occasional walk breaks but there were no set intervals. We walked water stops and fuel stops and then were off again.
I kept up fairly well until mile 10. At that point, the back of my legs tightened up. I’ve never had this happen. I soon discovered that it hurt more to walk than to run. But I was really starting to drag at this point. Then we hit another hill and it was all over for me as far as keeping up with them. I put my earbuds in and did what I could. I had set my app to do 60/30 intervals just in case I needed them. So I started trying to do those. I quickly realized I needed to run 30 and walk 60. I stuck to that as best as I could and neared the finish line. As I got closer, I realized I still had a chance to beat my original goal. So I ran.
I crossed the finish line at
3:04:33 (chip time). Not only did I beat my goal of 3:10:00 but I also PR’d by more than 28 minutes!!!!!
This race takes you all over downtown Birmingham. There were times that I had no idea where we were and then we would come out somewhere and I knew exactly where we were. My husband calls me geographically challenged so I don’t dare try to tell where all we went. Best I can do is say look at the race map.
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Our race entry came with free BBQ and a free drink. I only took a few sips and then had to toss this. After I tossed it, I realized I should have tried stirring it first. Oh well, the food was good and I went back for a 2nd cup of coca cola on ice. The after party was hopping but I just wanted to go home and shower. So I did. Will I do this race again. I'm leaning towards not, but I'm glad I tried it.
(who was running the 10 miler).
I blame a case of runner brain.
