Only Half Crazy

Have you heard the saying that people who run ½ marathons are only half crazy?  One week after completing the Rehoboth BeachMarathon, I was toeing the line for a race just a mile from my house called the Holiday Half.  When my wife had asked me why the heck I would want to run a half one week after finishing a full, my immediate answer was ”it’s the challenge of it.”  Of course, it help it was a last minute decision that I did not really have time to think about it.  Also, it is really hard to turn down a race on the same trails I regularly train on.

So there I was, ½ an hour before the race started, asking if it was too late to register. Luckily for me the people at Metro Walk and Run who put on the race were very accommodating to last minute request for procrastinators like me.  I even got a full goodie bag that included race technical shirt and a fuzzy blanket.

The big question for me was curious how my legs would hold up.  I decided I run by effort, or more accurately, heart rate rather than shoot for certain time or pace. Through experience, I know a good HR for a half marathon for me is low 160’s.  Yes, I know that is a bit high for someone who runs as often as I do, but it is what it is.

Race conditions were pretty close to perfect, at for me.  Many people don’t like running in the cold but I love it.  The day was a little chilly at 34 degrees, but there was no wind and it was partly sunny.   There was still some snow covering the wood bridges, but other than that, footing was solid along the trail.  I had considered wearing my trail shoes, but ended up making the right choice staying with my road ones instead. 

As usual, I started out a little fast and ran the first mile at a 7:30 pace.  One day, I will actually stick to my plan and not go out too fast.  Fortunately, the hill at mile 2 forced me to throttle back to a more sustainable 7:50 pace.  I settled in with a cadence that kept my heart rate right between 165 and 166 for miles 3 through 12.  While my pace did slow a bit, I stayed with my plan of running by effort.  I kept waiting for my legs to get heavy, but to my surprise it never happened.  I even had a tiny bit left to drop my pace by 40 seconds for the last mile.

Even more surprising, I finished with a PR in this half one week after hitting a PR in a marathon.  Maybe there is something to listening to your body instead of my watch.  There was great selection of post-race food – pancakes, eggs, sausage, bagels, oranges and bananas.  I made a pancake, sausage, and egg burrito before heading home.  This is the 2^nd year I have done this race and I can’t recommend it highly enough.  Relatively small size, nice trails, wonderful cheering and decorations and good eats.    

Rehoboth Beach Marathon Recap

Short version – Great race, very flat, super scenic and wonderful after party.  Definitely recommend it.  I missed a PR by a few minutes.  If you are looking for a BQ or PR, this is race to do.

Longer version:

The race size is relatively small, giving it a very friendly feel.  I think combined the half and full together have less than 2,000 runners.  I am lucky enough to have friends with a condo that was near packet pick up, the start, and the finish.  I arrived around 5 pm on Friday evening, picked up my bib, and did a little pre-race shopping.  After dropping my stuff of at the condo, I walked to the Dog Fish Brewing Company’s pub.  As a race sponsors, they givie 10% off to runners.   I had a yummy pre-race fish fry (beer fried fluke, calamari, fries) and a Dog Fish 60 minute IPA.  Well, maybe two of the IPAs, since I was carbo loading.  With no kids or family responsibilities, I was in bed by 9:30. 

I got up around 5:15 Saturday morning for my traditional pre-race meal (bagel with sun-butter and honey, tea).  After checking the weather, I decided on go with shorts, a compression top under a loose tech top, arm sleeves, and gloves.   For nutrition, I stayed light – a hand held water bottle with Nuun and Sports Beans.  And of course, my trusty Garmin 920.

At 6:15 I took a short walk (4 blocks or so) down to the boardwalk for the race start.  I was welcomed by an amazing sunrise over the ocean and perfect weather– a few clouds, low 40’s, and no wind.   The race started right on time at 7:00 am.  For the first 3 miles, the course is the same for both the half and full marathoners.  It was a little crowded, but nothing like Marine Corp.   At the entrance to Gordons Pond Trail, the half runners turn around while the full keep going.   The surface changes from paved to finely packed crushed gravel.   Very scenic as I wound my way through Cape Henlopen State Park for next 5 miles or so.   Miles went be very quickly as I fell in with 3:40 pace group.

Miles 9 through 12 are an out and back along paved road.  We passed the ferry before arriving at the turn around at the Lewes Beach Dairy Queen.  They had few samples out for runners, along with a sign “Dairy Queen makes you run faster”.   I skipped the samples, as I did not want to DQ myself.   At mile 12, I turned back into the park, again, feeling great and enjoying the view.

Around mile 18, my pace started to fall behind the pace group a bit, but I still felt pretty good.  I pass near the finish before heading back out along anther trail for a second out and back loop.  My pace continued to slow, but I did fine until the turn around at mile 22 when I took my first walk break.  I managed to alternate running / walking until mile 25, when I summoned whatever reserves I had to run the final 1.2 miles to the finish. 

I picked up my medal (nice swag!), an emergency blanket, and chocolate milk (my go to recovery drink) before shuffling three blocks back to the condo.  A quick shower and change of clothes and I was ready to head back for the after party.  Plenty of food and drink.  In fact, I had to give away a few of my drink tickets.  After stuffing myself, I went back to condo for nap before packing up and driving home.  I did have to stop near the bay bridge to refuel – small pizza for me and gas for the car. 

In all, it was a great race.  I met quite a few people who were running it as one of their 50 state marathon list (for one lady, only 47, this was her 49^th, she only had Hawaii left to complete it).  I think many places in the town were only open this late in the year because of the marathon, so the whole town was very welcoming.   Absolutely would recommend the half or full.