2011 Frederick half marathon: After Action Review

Readers of this blog know my hopes and morale for my third running of the Frederick (MD) half marathon were pretty low. I've suffered a couple minor, but nagging, injuries and my last couple of long runs have been busts with me not even making it to 10 miles. That's pretty bad when you're training to run just over 13. Well, I'm happy to say that while I didn't run in a time that I'm particularly proud of I ran every step of the race, and thus this morning was not a disaster for me.

My plan was to hang with the 2:00 pace group for as long as possible, hopefully 10 miles, and then run/walk my way to the finish line. As it was, I hung with the pace group for about 10.5 miles and felt good enough to step it up a little. We maintained a pretty even 9:09 pace as a group, but I was able to run the last two full miles in 8:49 and 8:40. The last .1 mile got covered at a 7:27 pace; final kick to the finish, you know. So there were some real positive things to come out of the run, especially since the last mile included the half's only really significant hill. I scooted up it with relative ease, passing many who were just out of steam. Don't get me wrong about these last couple of miles. I was in a little discomfort with my groin or ab strain or whatever, but I was feeling it for the run.

I feared finishing somewhere in the 2:10:00 area, if I was lucky, but I actually just broke 2:00:00. My official time was 1:59:27. I crossed the finish line in time to take a few breaths and turn around to watch the 2:00:00 pacers cross the finish line. I shook their hands, thanked them for doing a great job and went on my merry way.


This is where I was this morning. Where were you?
Here are my random thoughts about the race:

• I mentioned the pace group a couple times already, but I really have to hand it to the pacers for keeping me slow. I generally run half marathons at a 8:35-8:40/mile pace but I just didn't want to push it that hard this time, and the pacers kept me nice and slow. The one guy, Brian, was a nice fella who kept asking how everyone was doing and making remarks about time and distance. The other guy, a Brit named Malcolm, was great. I guess he lives in Frederick and he provided commentary on all the sites we were passing by. He basically gave us a running tour of Frederick and he kept me happily distracted the whole time I was with him. And now I also know the location of one of only five covered bridged in the state of Maryland.
• One big change was to the packet pick-up procedure. They set it up so that you could get your bib at any of several locations in the days leading up to the race. The trade-off was that since you didn't need to visit the expo to get your bib you had to visit it after the race to pick up your race premium, a decent shirt/pullover. This is what I think the kids today call an epic fail. It was a major league nutroll fighting your way through to the table to get your premium and it made me not want to visit the vendors. They need to do the premium pick-up outdoors where there's some space and then herd people through to the expo or something because the plan they had for premium pick-up was disastrous.

A premium worth waiting for?

• Our pace group started off really big but by the time I left it at about 10.5 miles it was really small, and I only recognized one guy who finished within 10 seconds or so of the pacers. I don't know what happened to everyone else. I guess they were either feeling good enough to go on or not.
• The revamped half marathon course was great. I really enjoyed it over what I ran there last two times. There were a lot of turns and a few parts where we either ran up alleys or were squeezed too close to the side of a road, but there was no running along lonely country roads, by industrial parks, or through a Walmart parking lot.
• Last year the weather was atrocious. It was so hot and humid people were laid out along the sides of the road over the last couple miles like they were war wounded. This year it was great. It got a little warm for me toward the end, and a little head wind kicked up, but all in all there are no complaints. I only saw two people who seemed like they were having heat/hydration issues this time, and like last year one of them was maybe a quarter mile from the finish line. Man, that sucks.
• This used to be a Sunday event and now it's a Saturday one. I'm not sure about that. The reason I liked Frederick enough to run it twice was because it was so easy to get to and around the expo and packet pick-up and all that stuff, but doing it on Friday was a mess. I scouted the course on Friday evening -- something I'm extremely happy I did -- and wound up crawling along the first half of the course due to Friday evening traffic.
• Favorite sign: "That's not sweat. That's liquid awesome!"
• 2nd Favorite sign: "Chuck Norris never ran a half marathon"
• The medal is pretty nice:
  
  
• There weren't a whole lot of characters running. There were no people dressed up as crabs or pirates or anything, and I didn't see the guy who runs while juggling five balls. The most interesting person I saw running was a lady wore a yellow "Marathon Maniacs" shirt and matching tutu. Frederick just must not be that kind of place.
• However, it is the kind of place that supports this event pretty well. The crowds weren't thick everywhere, but they were enthusiastic, and in the residential areas people were offering their bathrooms, misting stations, oranges and strawberries, water and even beer. Good people.

This was my third time running the Frederick half marathon, and I'm not sure I want to run it again. There are just too many other runs to run to keep coming back to the same race year after year. But that's not to say that I wouldn't run it again, and if I know me chances are better than 50/50 I'll be right back in Frederick running the same race yet again...