Carbon Valley Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Saturday, May 18
Firestone, CO
Half Marathon #82
Colorado Half #22
Weather - Sunny and Warm

When my other birthday plans fell through, it only seemed appropriate to run the inaugural Carbon Valley half marathon. We didn't know much about the race and hoped that arriving about 40 minutes in advance would be enough time to pick up our stuff. Luckily, everything was easy to find and we were in and out of pack pick-up at the library (with indoor bathrooms) in just a few minutes. We were joined again by our new running buddy, Hope. We stood around at the start line chatting with her and her family. In a very short amount of time, I managed to get a few DOZEN mosquito bites. THAT was annoying.

And then we started, about five minutes late.

I had ZERO expectations going into the race. I had not run one step since Sunday. I had been out the night before having birthday beers with my sister. I had cake. I had candy. I fueled with donut holes.

We started off on a weird soft gravel section. I was feeling ok, but my calves (shockingly) were tight. Again. I did manage to run the entire first mile without walking. I was worried, again, that I would need to be stopping a lot to let my legs loosen up. I took a few pictures while walking.

Turns out, this was pretty much the best looking part of the course

I caught up with Hope just after mile 2. We would end up running (and walking) together for the remainder of the race. There is just not much to say. There were aid stations about every two miles. They had Gatorade (variety) at three aid stations and just water at the rest. Friendly volunteers. BORING BORING BORING course. It was a gradual uphill most of the course and it was hot. We walked quite a bit.

I also had to mess with my iFitness belt A HUNDRED BILLION TIMES. I really haven't raced with it much, but since it was hot, I wanted to carry water on  me. It would NOT stay put. It either rode up, or if I wore it too low, my hip bone was somehow managing to put enough pressure on the bottle that it was shooting Nuun on me. MOST ANNOYING THING EVER. I will never ever ever run with this thing ever again. I would rather faint from dehydration.

We were looking forward to the only section of the course that promised to be visually stimulating, a mile-ish jaunt around a small lake. There were gnats everywhere, which was NOT pleasant, although we did see this giant bird:

So yeah. The course was boring. It was hillier than we thought and we just wanted to be done.

So.... No idea what is happening here....

But, I had a pretty good time overall, even with tired legs. L managed to catch a picture of me GENUINELY smiling. Hurray!

Bib #204
Official Time - 2:42:57
Overall Place - 139/164
Gender Place - 74/97
Division Place - 34/42
MMR Time - 2:43:07
MMR Pace - 11:27
MMR Distance - 13.41 miles
Mile 1 - 10:37
Mile 2 - 11:54
Mile 3 - 11:18
Mile 4 - 12:58
Mile 5 - 12:39
Mile 6 - 12:57
Mile 7 - 12:56
Mile 8 - 10:35
Mile 9 - 11:40
Mile 10 - 13:35
Mile 11 - 12:56
Mile 12 - 11:37
Mile 13 - 11:43
Mile 13.41 - 11:27

Not sure this captures the "barren-ness" of Firestone

There was some food at the finish line. I missed out on the Chic-Fil-A, but I did get MORE donut holes. I swear, they melted in my mouth and were DELICIOUS. I wanted a beer (mainly because I was thirsty). I quickly slammed a not-so-great Miller 64 OUT OF A CAN.

Thoughts:

• Pretty good for an inaugural although there was not much information on their website about race day information. Also, I really had to search to find race results, there was no link from their website.
• No gels available on the course, BYOG! Well stocked with fluids though - 3 of the 7 aid stations had Gatorade.
• The map showed where the aid stations were, but not in relation to the miles, so that was a bit annoying.
• Pretty nice shirt, I may or may not wear again, but at least it was a women's cut!
• Pretty awesome medal!
• Boring boring boring boring boring boring course. And practically zero crowd support.

Other thoughts:

• DID NOT HATE RUNNING WHEN I WAS DONE!!! Major success! Sure, it was slow. Sure, I didn't feel amazing the entire time. But nothing really hurt and I was not miserable when I crossed the line. I call that a win!