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Well here it is my first ever race report... After 1 1/2 years of posting with the 30's.<br><br>
History: signed up for this race in May and had general R knee issues all summer long, took a 3 week hiatus from running with no resolve. Start a mediocre training plan in August, when my friend from HS says she wants to do the race. then decide to get an official diagnosis of what is going on. 1 week and 3 days before 1/2 marathon, I get MRI results showing Runner's knee. I am advised by my 'sports medicine ortho' not to run. Well I did anyway, after researching that this can be somewhat resolved.<br><br>
My training has been consistant with a run/walk mileage increase (friend from HS didn't have very consistant training, but I told her I would stay with her) Our race plan is to run 5-6 miles than run/walk the rest. Well, we are going along and reach 5, feeling good so we keep going, reach 6 miles still feeling good so we keep going, same with 7. hit 8 and I literally make myself stop for fear of causing more issues. (Friend keeps running here) I walk about .5 mile and start to run again, I see her walking in the distance so I run another 1 mile and catch up with her and we stop again, this time we walked about 1 mile... Anyway somewhere in there we ran the last 2 miles. (Friend was majorly cramping up and we had to stop a few times for her to stretch) I finished way ahead of my goal time of 3 hours and a lot of satisfaction.<br><br>
The race was well organized. The 1/2 route was very very flat, I remember only 2 hills and they were cake compared to the hills on the Twin Cities 10 mile course.<br>
Downfalls of this race:<br>
1. The race promotes a walker friendly race, which is wonderful, however, I think they should start in the back of the pack. Getting out of the pack when you have walkers lined up 5 wide was discouraging.<br>
2. #2 aid station was outta water when we got there. (But there were plenty of stations.)<br>
3. The silver blankets handed out at the end were only for marathoners.<br>
4. Crowd support is questionable. Keep in mind I am comparing this to TC and the crowd support there is wonderful!!<br><br><br>
ps. The race follows all of the marathon course however they have a loop to add the other 13.1 I knew we would be able to see the leaders as they head down the final miles and passed us. Which was <b>way cool.</b> However, I was pointing across the lake stating, hey look here comes the marathoners and oops here he is the leader right next to me! I cheered him on as he kicked my ass! Along with the 10-15 others who passed!
History: signed up for this race in May and had general R knee issues all summer long, took a 3 week hiatus from running with no resolve. Start a mediocre training plan in August, when my friend from HS says she wants to do the race. then decide to get an official diagnosis of what is going on. 1 week and 3 days before 1/2 marathon, I get MRI results showing Runner's knee. I am advised by my 'sports medicine ortho' not to run. Well I did anyway, after researching that this can be somewhat resolved.<br><br>
My training has been consistant with a run/walk mileage increase (friend from HS didn't have very consistant training, but I told her I would stay with her) Our race plan is to run 5-6 miles than run/walk the rest. Well, we are going along and reach 5, feeling good so we keep going, reach 6 miles still feeling good so we keep going, same with 7. hit 8 and I literally make myself stop for fear of causing more issues. (Friend keeps running here) I walk about .5 mile and start to run again, I see her walking in the distance so I run another 1 mile and catch up with her and we stop again, this time we walked about 1 mile... Anyway somewhere in there we ran the last 2 miles. (Friend was majorly cramping up and we had to stop a few times for her to stretch) I finished way ahead of my goal time of 3 hours and a lot of satisfaction.<br><br>
The race was well organized. The 1/2 route was very very flat, I remember only 2 hills and they were cake compared to the hills on the Twin Cities 10 mile course.<br>
Downfalls of this race:<br>
1. The race promotes a walker friendly race, which is wonderful, however, I think they should start in the back of the pack. Getting out of the pack when you have walkers lined up 5 wide was discouraging.<br>
2. #2 aid station was outta water when we got there. (But there were plenty of stations.)<br>
3. The silver blankets handed out at the end were only for marathoners.<br>
4. Crowd support is questionable. Keep in mind I am comparing this to TC and the crowd support there is wonderful!!<br><br><br>
ps. The race follows all of the marathon course however they have a loop to add the other 13.1 I knew we would be able to see the leaders as they head down the final miles and passed us. Which was <b>way cool.</b> However, I was pointing across the lake stating, hey look here comes the marathoners and oops here he is the leader right next to me! I cheered him on as he kicked my ass! Along with the 10-15 others who passed!
