American Heroes Run (Race Recap)

Longmont, CO
Sunday, September 8
Half Marathon #92
Colorado Half #31
Weather - The Hottest and Sunniest EVER

We signed up for the half marathon portion of the American Heroes Run in FEBRUARY. Another race to cross off our list of running ALL the half marathons in Colorado. (Although, let's be real. I am WAY behind L on this one, this really could take the rest of my life to do). Anyway, the race is put on by an amazing ultra runner, David Clark, and there were TONS of different distances happening all the same time. There was a new 24 hour division this year, and although 5 runners signed up, only one started. She ran 84 miles!!!

If the rest of the country is anything like Colorado was this weekend it was THE HOTTEST EVER. The race was scheduled to follow the timeline of the events of September 11 (this was the first year the event was NOT held on the 11th, in an attempt to increase participation). The race was not scheduled to start until 8:46 am!! Which means, it was going to be HOT.

L and I convinced Hope to run the race with us and her husband and kids were planning on spectating and graciously offered to watch the girls. We left the house just before 7:15 am for the 45 minute drive to Longmont. I saw a donut place on the way up and we stopped and got THESE:

I had 1/2 the Snickers covered Long John and one of the pumpkin donuts with cream cheese frosting!

I haven't been really eating before races or long runs, so I was hoping that his out-of-the-blue donut stop wasn't going to make for a terrible race.

We had NOT read any of the information regarding the course (remember, I stopped doing that AGES ago), so we were a bit surprised when Hope told us that it was going to be... ONE.MILE.LOOPS. Oh. Well, that could be... horrible?

Anyway, there wasn't a ton of parking at the start but we were able to get a spot. We picked up our bibs and ankle chips and then used the bathroom. There was a brief pre-race  meeting to go over the course, etc. and we lined up for the half.

Um, yeah. That's about all the participants

L was STILL feeling like a cripple and Hope was a bit off from our long run the day before. Apparently, I was the one that was setting the pace every loop, and the first mile clocked by at 11:xx, which was a bit too fast for the other ladies. I was in no rush and it was THE HOTTEST EVER, so we slowed the pace down. I am still not running with music, and even though there was SOME conversation, we really just ran the loops and ticked off the miles. It was a pretty view, but again, SO HOT.

To cover the distance, we had one "half" loop (which was actually about 3/4 mile) and then 12 full loops. The course did measure long as a result. I thought I would HATE the loop course, but it actually wasn't that bad. There were a decent amount of spectators, and I enjoyed knowing that every mile I would come up on an aid station. About midway through the race, these were put out. BEST EVER!!

Not much else to say about the race. The course was flat, about half paved and half soft dirt. There was very little shade. Due to the small number of participants, the course never really got crowded. I had a pretty great day, everything felt "easy" for me.

Official Time - 2:45:02
Gender Place - 3/8 (Woot!!)
Garmin Time - 2:45:01
Garmin Distance - 13.46 miles
Mile 1 - 11:37
Mile 2 - 12:04
Mile 3 - 12:20
Mile 4 - 12:08
Mile 5 - 12:11
Mile 6 - 12:23
Mile 7 - 12:23
Mile 8 - 12:11
Mile 9 - 12:48
Mile 10 - 12:33
Mile 11 - 12:08
Mile 12 - 12:26
Mile 13 - 12:57
Mile 13.46 - 9:51 (!! - and it didn't even feel "hard")
 

Thoughts:

• I actually enjoyed running the loops - never felt alone and it was fun to count how many times we got lapped by the ridiculous fast people (the winner ran a 1:32, second place was more than a half hour slower, lol).
• Only one aid station, but it was GREAT and was being  manned by the race director. They never ran out of water, they had gels, chips, donut holes and other goodies. I was impressed.
• If the event gets bigger he will want to add port-o-potties as there were indoor bathrooms available, but only 2 stalls.
• It was fun having the kids there. Loved getting hi fives as we were heading in for our loops.
• I would run this event again, nothing bad to say about this one!