DATE: May 05, 2024
DISTANCE: Half Marathon (13.1mi/21km)
PLACE: Frederick, Maryland
WEATHER: 52F and rainy
OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: 2:27 / 11:15 min/mi
FINISHERS: 2452
SWAG: Sweatshirt, medal, two post-race beers, and random bits and pieces from the post-race festival
Woo hoo! My first official Maryland half marathon as a resident of Maryland. This half took me to the town of Frederick, which is about 30-40 miles from Washington DC.
EXPO:
There really wasn't much to the expo, because I picked up my bib and bounced. Actually, I take that back. I just realized that I picked up my race stuff at an off-site at a local running store rather than picking up my materials at the official expo. For me, it did not make much sense to drive 30 miles to Frederick to pick up my bib, drive 30 miles back to Silver Spring, then make that same trip one or two days later. I guess I should be grateful that the organizers had a couple options to pick up race materials outside of the expo.
Pre-race:
To be honest, I was over the half marathon before starting it. While driving to Frederick around 5 am, I was very concerned with the early morning downpours. There were a couple of times during my drive that I considered turning around. One time I had this thought was when I had to pull off onto the shoulder of the interstate to pee in the rain. Some folks may know that I absolutely HATE running in the rain. I don't really understand why because I tend to sweat a lot, so it's not like I'm NOT going to get wet while running. Maybe it's my fear of slipping on wet surfaces. In Frederick (about 30 min before lining up), I had to internally tell myself: Look! Stop complaining about the rain. Either shut up and run the half or get in the car and drive home. I think my internal pep talk help. ;)
You know, this is the first time that I've seen corrals marked with pace rather that letters of numbers that's supposed to represent a pace cutoffs.
Actually, I think this a better way to assign corrals. IMO, I think runners would be a bit more "honest" (or rather, cognizant) of their running level/state when the corral's pace is clearly visible. A pace is consistent from race to race, but Corral letters/numbers are not. For instance, Corral E might have a pace cutoff of 11 min/mi for one race, but Corral E might have a pace cutoff of 10 min/mi for another.
The Course:
Overall, I really enjoyed this course because it was very flat and had a few twists and turns that allowed us to explore the historic town of Frederick. I don't know why, but I really appreciate a course that has a few turns. I think it's a mental thing for me because making a turn kind of gives me a mental reset.
You know, 50F weather is kind of annoying because it can feel too cold or too hot. I was planning to run in a short technical T-shirt, but I figured that it would be too cold for that. Fortunately, I packed a long-sleeved tech shirt. Unfortunately, my long sleeve shirt was too tight to put over my regular shirt, so I put the long-sleeved tech shirt under my short-sleeved tech shirt and thought nothing of it. About 3/4 of a mile into the race, I realized that I was going to become too hot running with this set up. Begrudgingly, I had to stop and rearrange my outfit, which involved:
Finding a spot off the course to change.
Taking off all of my shirts and putting the long-sleeved tech shirt around my waist. Since I really like this long tech shirt (I think it's from one of my NYC marathons), I didn't want to toss it.
Unpin the four safety pins and transfer my bib from my shirt to my shorts. I did this just in case, I would need to put my long sleeve tech shirt over my t-shirt.
I guess doing this took longer than I thought because I was VERY far in the back of the pack by the time I finished.
Ha! I think there were about 10 runners and course sweepers behind me by the time I finished dealing with my wardrobe "malfunction".
General Recap:
In previous half marathons, I typically will run 0.8 miles and walk 0.2 miles intervals. For this half, I tried to push myself a little bit by running 0.9 miles and walking 0.1 miles. I'm not sure if it made a HUGE difference, but my time for this half marathon (~2:27) was a bit faster than the one I ran in March (~2:34). Around Mile 7, I decide to push myself a bit more by walking my 0.1 miles after running 2 miles instead of after each mile. Also, I incorporated fartlets and 0.25 mile "sprints" during Miles 8, 10, and 12.
I wonder if Cow Tales are anything like Duck Tales.
At the post-race festival, I learned that Cow Tales are a chewy candy. Although this candy has been around since the 80s, I don't recall ever seeing them.
I'll say that for 80% of the race, I did not feel like I was struggling. I didn't feel super strong, BUT I did not feel weak while running. I hate to admit this, but I think the rainy weather might have had something to do with my improved performance because the rain prevented me from getting too hot while running.
HA! I was ecstatic to run past Olde Mother Brewery, which produces one of my (newly) favorite beers.
Once again, I will say that I was quite impressed by the city of Frederick, and I would not mind visiting again for a day trip.
I'll say that it was very interesting to finish up the half marathon on a racetrack (for motorcycles, I think).
Post-Race:
Overall, I thought the post-race festival was very nice because there was plenty to do...on paper. However, the rainy weather kind of put a damper (pun intended) on the festival because the festival area was full of mud. I remember almost slipping on a few occasion while making may way from point A to B to C...
However, I did not let a little mud stop me from enjoying my post-race beers.
Because of state or city mandates, they had to open and serve BOTH cans of beers, so I guess everyone was double fisting beers. While the race and post-race party were organized very well, I think in the future they should provide runners with 21+ wristbands. Many runners were turned away from grabbing their post-race beers because they did not have an ID. So, folks had to walk a bit to go to the back check (which was outside of the post-race festival area), get their ID, and return for their beer. Had it not be for the mud and coldish weather, I would have stayed a bit longer at the festival.
However, I was getting cold and really wanted to get my dry bag to put on my sweatshirt.
I have to LOL about the sweatshirt. When I picked up my race materials at the "expo", I thought that it was kind of dumb to provide a sweatshirt for a May half marathon. However, the sweatshirt definitely kept me warm after the race, AND it's a very nice really nice sweatshirt. I thought it was kind of funny that I saw so many discarded race sweatshirts along the course. Maybe these folks have run this half marathon a few times and didn't need (or want) another sweatshirt.
Luckily for me there was a Planet Fitness about a few miles away. I decided to hit up the Frederick Planet Fitness, to stretch, use a hydromassage table, take a shower, and change into clean clothes. After that, I drove by home, picked up the husband, and had brunch (fish n grits and mimosas) at a local Creole (or as my friend says "Beyonce Creole, not Haitian Creole") restaurant in Silver Spring.
While the mimosas were delicious, my fish n grits were off because the dish was way too salty. Although Sunday was Cinco de Mayo, I really did not want to go to a Mexican or margarita spot for my post-race feeding...and drinking. I was tired and did not want to be around a million and three people guzzling down margaritas, wearing sombreros, and being loud.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
-The half marathon did not go as well as I would have liked (weatherwise), but I definitely want to run this half again next year. Also, I might be interested in checking out one of race challenges.
-The quaint, historic city of Frederick is very nice and deserves a non-racing day trip.
-While I did not achieve the time I wanted, I am somewhat happy that my time improved from my last half. Actually, I take that back because I never set a time goal for this half.
Playlists:
Since Eurovision 2024 is this week, I gave the Class of 2024 one more complete listen before the contest's kick off.
