Friday, February 18, 2011

Race # 6 - Mayberry Half Marathon, Mt. Airy, NC

Mayberry Half Marathon
11/6/10
8:00 AM
Mt. Airy, NC
Time: 1:42:14
Placed 8th out of 55; 1st in my Age Group

After coming off a great first Half Marathon, I decided to jump into a local one held in Mt. Airy, NC. This is about 25 minutes from my house and figured, why the heck not. I knew what to expect this time...sort of.

It was a COLD morning and I ran in shorts. At the start, I took off with the crowd and tried to maintain a pace that would allow me to do better than the previous HM and PR again. Bad mistake. I learned after this day that you can't go out and expect to beat your previous time, especially going on 3 weeks of rest/training (or lack there of).

Things started out great. I fell into a rhythm and held my own. I watched as the fast guys shot out like a cannon and did their thing. Fine by me. I ran along for quite a while and then fell in line with another man and woman. We all sort of took turns drafting off each other. Once we reached the greenway, it was mostly flat and they chatted it up while I just listened. I still to this day don't understand why people just hold a conversation while in a race. Personally, I'm there to race. I don't want to talk. I just want to do my thing.

Eventually, the woman had to stop at the port-a-potty and the guy and I continued on. Coming off the greenway, the next street was uphill. This is when I was separated from the guy who ended up finishing in front of me by about 90 seconds. I got to this one section, and I remember some people before the race talking about this infamous hill and how most people struggle when they get to that part. I thought I'd handle it quite well. I was wrong.

My knee started hurting just before this hill. So much that when I got to it, I had to walk. I didn't not like that but later learned that it's ok to walk sometimes. No big deal. I made through that part and knew I was coming up on the finish as I entered the downtown area of Mt. Airy. I ran as hard as I could through the chute and finished amongst the crowd of the small town festival they were having the same day.

Summer and I stuck around to see how I finished and was surprised that I finished in the top 10. Granted there were only 55 runners but still, not that bad. No PR but definitely a learning experience. I received a medal and a little bobble head running man as my trophy. Not too shabby.

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