Red, White, and Boom! TC Half Marathon Race Report

Or, Where the Hell Did That Hill Come From?


This morning, I raced my first ever Half Marathon, the Red, White, and Boom! TC Half Marathon.  I had set a few goals for myself, and hoped to enjoy this tune-up race in my marathon preparations.

Pre-Race
The race started at 6:30am, so I was up by 4am and Katie and I left at 5:30am.  Yes, that's an early start for a race, but I'm guessing that the race director picked that time because the race is in July, and the earlier the start, the greater chance you have of a cooler race.  In the parking lot at our apartment complex, Katie and I saw Luís, our neighbor, and he said he was heading to the half marathon by bicycle—6 miles away!  Katie and I both thought he was planning on running it after biking, but, he was actually just heading over to spectate.  We parked and headed down to St. Anthony Main, then remarked how few porta-potties there were for 2300 runners.  As it turns out, this ended up being a problem for a lot of people, but thankfully my hydration strategy does not include a potty break just before the race starts.

I made sure to dress very patriotic—and reflective!

We both wore yellow hats.  Easy to spot one another, or something like that...

As I was lining up to start somewhere between the 1:45 and 1:50 pacer, David appeared next to me.  He even helped a woman climb the fence so she could grab her spot.  Good to see you, David!

Mile 1: 7'41"
This mile was WAY too fast.  I was about 5-10 seconds behind the pacer running 8'01" miles (for a 1:45 finish), so he ran it too fast too.  I can't blame the guy, though, because it's tough to get on pace right from the start.

Mile 2: 8'13"
Much better pace.  It was around this time that I realized how humid it was.  At 6:30am, the temps were hovering around 80°F, with storms threatening for later in the morning.  A nice, light rain would have been fantastic.  Little did I know how much my wish would come true…  I saw Katie just before turning west to cross the Mississippi, and she managed to get a shot of me:

I'm just to the left of the guy wearing the red bandana, who is just to the left of the speed limit sign.  You can also see the 1:45 pacer on the right side of the image—he's the one carrying the sign.

Mile 3: 7'57"

Too fast again.  At this point, I decided that I would run my own race and ignore the pacer.  Turning to head back over the river, I saw Luís and startled him a bit with a "Hi Luís!".  After crossing the river, I saw Steve.  His wife was running the race too, and he was out snapping photos and cheering.  I hit the first aid station in this mile, and went with just water.  I kept moving and didn't lose a whole lot of time.  I hoped to bank a little time at the first aid station to make up for my Gu's in the later stations.

Mile 4: 8'04"

And the heavens opened up, and down came the rain.  The rain started building, and building, and building.  For the next few miles, it was a really heavy downpour.  I like running in the rain, but it doesn't necessarily make me faster.  My shoes became waterlogged, and I was pretty sure I'd get some nasty blisters.

At one point in this mile, the course turns left, and you're able to see the part of the course that is about 2 miles ahead.  In a bout of sheer luck, I reached this point just as the leaders reached it.  It's pretty rare to see the leaders after you've started, so I thought that was pretty cool.

Mile 5: 8'12"

Still raining.  Harder.

Mile 6: 9'06"

I hit aid station #2, and downed a Gu.  I washed it down with some water and kept going.  I did walk this aid station, and my split shows that.  I also saw Luís again.

Mile 7: 8'25"

I began to settle into a slower pace.  I decided that today just wouldn't be the day to have a super-fast time.  I decided to do the rest of the race just by intuition.  There were a couple hills here leading up to bridges so we could cross the rail yard.  I figured the hills wouldn't be much worse than these tame ones.

Mile 8: 9'37"

Holy Crap!  That's a hill.  I knew there would be a hill, so I just took it easy and eventually reached the top.  This is where knowing the course would have been more helpful.  I looked at the elevation map the night before, and figured that this was the hill that led to the highest point on the course.  Nope.  After reaching the top, there was a 2nd hill.  A bigger hill.  A longer hill.  A hill where I had to ask someone "am I still moving?".  I probably could have crab-walked up the hill faster.  I took another Gu at the top, and walked through the aid station.  I then found the corresponding holy-crap-that's-a-downhill!, and leaned forward and picked up the pace.  That was fun.

Mile 9: 8'39"

From here on out, I began to hold my TMP pretty steadily.  The rain reduced itself to a sprinkle/drizzle, too.

Mile 10: 8'36"

Another Gu and aid station.  They were handing out watermelon, too, but I settled for my orange Gu.

Mile 11: 8'52"

Saw Steve again.  My plan was to make the last 5k a bit faster, but today wouldn't be the day.  I just tried to hold my pace fairly steady, and finish strong.

Mile 12: 8'36"

Aid station, but no Gu.  I took Powerade instead.  Nearing the finish, we turned into what can best be described as an industrial plant.  It was a little weird, but we're runners, and thus we're weird to begin with.

Mile 13: 9'17"

At the instant I passed the marker for 12 miles complete, my right calf went YEOOOWWW!  Well, maybe I went YEOOOWWW!, but my calf would have too if it had vocal cords.  I hobbled for a few feet, but was not going to stop.  If I held my pace to slightly slower than 9 minutes, it wasn't too bad, so for the whole last mile, I had a fairly tenuous grip on running.  It was a good exercise in pace control.

Mile 13.1: 0'51"

Turning onto the homestretch, I tried to pick up the pace, but my calf had other thoughts.  So, I grimaced and groaned the last 0.1 miles.  Katie got some pictures of me at the end, and she got a HOVERING PICTURE!

See, I don't run—I hover.  I'm also soaked.

Finishing Time: 1:52:17

As always, Twin Cities in Motion has great post-race food.  I got chips, salted nut bars, a banana, raisin rolls, and a hot dog.

Did I make Corral 1?  No.  Did I get my 1:47:30 goal time?  No.  Did I practice my marathon pacing strategy?  Not so much.  BUT, considering the heat and the rain, I'm really happy with my first half marathon.  AND, since it was my first half marathon, I PR'ed!  Hehe…

Talking with Steve's wife afterward, she thought the hill was a bit much too, so I don't feel so bad about being owned by that hill.  I love running hills.  But there comes a time when they just bludgeon you over the head, and today was one of those times.

Good race, and I'll post sometime this week about how this will change my marathon training.

Oh, and I got some nifty hardware, too: