Grand Rapids Half Marathon Race Recap

Official Stats:

Grand Rapids Half Marathon - 13.1 M

Clock Time: 2:03:05

Chip Time: 2:00:22

Overall Place: 716 / 1686

Gender Place: 321 / 1039

Division Place: 57 / 171

Pace: 9:11

Pre-Race: Up and at 'em about 6 am Spike, Emma, LeBrian and I moused about the house getting ready. There was the unmistakeable electric charge in the air of pre-race excitement and nerves as we ate, used the facilities and layered up before heading over to the Start. As we all went to lace up we found this most excellent poem Spike had written tucked in our shoes, definitely worth the read. Emma refrained from reading because she was already emotional over today being her first Marathon.

Spike, LeBrian, Red & Emma ready to Rock and Run!

We arrived at the YMCA with time to spare and proceeded to stretch, warm-up and wrap our heads around what was about to come! I looked for Sun Runner but had no luck before it was time to head to the start.

Arch Cutlets + K-Tape = SUCCESS!!!

Me (Half), Spike (Full), LeBrian (Half) & Emma (1st Full!!!)

Start Corral: LeBrian, Emma and I left Spike in the zone and headed out to the Start Corral, we had talked it over and agreed to start the first mile together nice and easy. As we waited LeBrian and I joked around with the other runners and pumped Emma up with confidence and support. As the gun went off we were snuggled nicely between the pace groups for P.Diddy & Oprah. (All the pace groups were associated with famous people's finishes like Lance Armstrong, Will Ferrell, Al Gore, etc...)

Start - Mile 5: As we passed under the Start we played it up for the photog's before settling in to a nice 10 min pace. It felt like only a few minutes before we saw the first mile flags at which time I wished them a great race and headed out to start my own race. The course wrapped around an industrial-ish area before heading on to a trail. The crowd support was spotty but when you came on it the spectators were great! The next few miles ticked off quickly and before I knew it, I was at Mile 5 and it was time to Gu.

10:07, 8:59, 8:58, 8:55, 8:57

Mile 6 -10: As I headed into Mile 6 I accidentally unplugged my iPod and ended up having to wrestle with it a bit to get it righted. I slowed just a tad but once I got it fixed I was back into the swing of things. As we approached the first aid station in this stretch of the trail I heard a boom box blaring tunes and lo and behold it was tahoegirl!!! She had come out to spectate as promised and returned the favor of giving me a hug of support! Thank you so much girl! It was AWESOME to see a "familiar" face out on the course!

*Photo courtesy of tahoegirl, a customized "Redhead Running" poster! :)

After I left tahoegirl I hoped to snag a chance at the porta-potty but no such luck as their was a line so I ran on. (I had needed to pee the whole friggin' race! Darn child size, nervous bladder! As if going 5 times pre-race wasn't enough!) We hit another huge spectator area and I highfived as many kids as I could, it was fun and made me wonder why I don't always do that?! After the spectating area we scaled a tough little hill and made our way down a pretty empty stretch of road save for some silo's that I seriously considered popping a squat behind but decided against it because too many guys were using it. Shortly after that we split from the marathoners, I wished those around me a great race and then the Halfers ran over this awkward grassy hill and down to the trail again. I slowed here because the decline was kinda steep but otherwise I was still keeping a good clip. From this trail we headed back and were under a beautiful canopy of trees, it was so peaceful, I think that was my favorite part of the whole race. As we came back up to revisit the aid station just after Mile 10 I was starting to feel tired and rallied just enough to flash a smile at tahoegirl before heading in to the Finish.

9:08, 9:00, 8:55, 8:57, 9:04

11 - 13.1: As I headed into Mile 11 I was starting to feel spent. The sun beat down in this exposed stretch of the trail and my less than solid training was starting to wear thin. I also still needed to pee and thankfully found the next aid station without a line! With that out of the way it took me a few steps to get back into a solid run but once I did I found it tough to keep up. I was exhausted and it was really taking everything I had to keep it together. About 1/2 way thru Mile 12 I felt so physically spent that I allowed myself to mentally give up. I stopped and walked for a good 15-20 seconds before I rallied by reminding myself I was SO close to the Finish and a quick check at Hermes showed I had a shot at hitting 2 hours. So without another glance I mustered up everything I had left and ran it in as best I could.

Lucky #13 = Finish Line is just ahead!!!

9:01, 10:08, 9:05, .1 = N/A

Finish: After I crossed the Finish Line I shook the Race Director's hand, grabbed my medal and headed for the water station. I was lightheaded and a little loopy so I totally blanked on stopping Hermes. That last .1 is undocumented for time since almost two minutes had passed before I shut it off but I guessed I had come in right about two hours which meant a solid 2 minute PR!!! If you're going to be robbed of your Full by an injury there's nothing sweeter than coming back to PR a Half!

PR BABY!!!

Post Race: After I got out of the Finishers area I doubled back and cheered LeBrian in with his girlfriend and Spike's Fam. We had a few before we'd see Spike so I changed quick and we flipped over all the posters to Marathon Mode!

Spike has been talking non-stop about post-race donuts so I only thought this appropriate. For the record, I did in fact get him a Krispy Kreme post race. :)

No sooner did we get in place did Spike appear in the distance coming down towards the Finish! We cheered on the top of our lungs as he made his way on past and into the Finish for a BQ!!! (His race recap) Once we had Spike collected from the Finish we all gathered to cheer Emma in on her maiden voyage of the Marathon distance and she was all smiles when she saw that it was a whole family affair gathered to cheer her in! She looked on top of the world and glowed as she ran into the finish hand in hand with her son and daughter...

Post Race Half & Marathon Finishers!!! Way to go guys!!!

After Emma joined up with us we all stood around and exchanged war stories, stuffed our faces and regaled in the excitement of a fantabulous day of racing. Around then fellow blogger/racer Dawn texted and we got to meet up to exchange congrats.

When I grow up, I want to BQ like them!

Post Race Thoughts: The course was beautiful, the spectators were awesome and I loved the personal effort the race coordinators put forth, especially the motivating newsletters Race Director Don Kern sent first monthly then daily for 10 days leading up to the race. Was I sad I didn't run the Full? Yes. Could I have run the Full? Absolutely NOT! Was I happy I ran the Half? F*ck Yeah! It was a great day, I hit a tough spot and fought through for a PR! With that I think it's about time to raise that enthusiasm level on up because this Redhead is...