Area 13.1 Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Castle Rock, CO
Saturday, September 14
Half Marathon #93
Colorado Half #32
Weather - Chilly and rainy, wet

The Area 13.1 half marathon is put on by Zulu Racing. This was the inaugural year for the Denver area. Unless you are living under a rock, you know that Denver/Boulder has been getting POUNDED with "Biblical" amounts of rain. This stuff is NO JOKE. For example, here is a picture of the trail that I ran my 22 miler on LAST WEEK:

The drive down was a bit rainy... (don't worry, I'm the passenger):

And we got a ZILLION Emergency Alerts on the drive down. I think we actually got a few more than this and I just didn't get an updated screen shot. But, I kept checking the race's Facebook page and the event was still on. Maybe it would just be another really memorable race!

We pulled up the Fairgrounds with about 45 minutes until the race started, which gave us plenty of time to put on all the fun glow in the dark stuff L got to accent our outfits. This picture doesn't do it justice, but we have glowing necklaces, bracelets and rings. Sadly, our super bright neon yellow shirts weren't so bright once it got dark out.

It was still drizzling, although the rain had let up A LOT, and Hope and I had both opted to wear arm sleeves. CRAZY to think that just a week ago we were melting and running in 90 degree weather.

About 15 minutes before the race was supposed to start we are told that they are delaying because of thunder and lightning. But, it was still on! Thankfully, the race did get started at 7:15. They had been saying that if there was too much flooding on the course that they might have to turn the race into a 10 miler instead of a half. Thankfully, they were able to find a safe route for us to get in all the miles.

Because of the dark and the rain, I did not take any pictures on the course. In fact, I didn't even take my camera with me. The course was on the same "trail" as the Castle Rock half marathon that we ran in June. I was really surprised that there weren't more puddles and that the course was as dry as it was.

L started with us as she is still crippled and taking it easy. The first mile felt great. Slight downhill and cooler temps. Hope was concerned that we were going a bit too fast and mentioned that she has been having some hip tightness. We slowed it down.

There was a 5k along with the half marathon and it was a bit congested at the start, as an alarmingly large number of people actually came out for the event, but it wasn't too bad. The aid stations all had water and I think Cytomax. The volunteers that made it out were super friendly and energetic. The aid station at mile 4/8.5 also had Hammer gel in a variety of flavors.

Not much to say about the race itself... L took off ahead of us somewhere around mile 4 or 5 and I stuck with Hope. The course is really hilly and neither one of us was really "feeling it" so we walked quite a bit. I ended up keeping my arm sleeves on the entire race. I'm sure I would have been fine without them but I was comfortable having them.

We did the 10 miles out and back, and then we had to re-do the 5k route (out and back on the same trail) to get the mileage in.

Awesome medal!!

Official - 2:49:29 (not sure how this is SO far off from my Garmin)
Garmin - 2:44:04
Mile 1 - 11:15
Mile 2 - 11:22
Mile 3 - 11:21
Mile 4 - 11:20
Mile 5 - 13:18
Mile 6 - 12:53
Mile 7 - 12:27
Mile 8 - 12:40
Mile 9 - 12:39
Mile 10 - 13:45
Mile 11 - 11:52
Mile 12 - 13:29
Mile 13 - 14:18
Mile 13.12 - 11:48

Thoughts:

• Excellent for an inaugural. Especially considering the circumstances, they really did a great job with this event.
• The starting area at the Fairgrounds was perfect. We cycled through the bathroom lines three times and never had to wait. Plus, I like washing my hands.
• The aid stations were well stocked and plenty of cheerful volunteers.
• The course was very well marked, and they had tons of cute decorations on the course (glow sticks, inflatable aliens, etc.)
• A shockingly large number of people carried no headlamp. And wore all black. Why?
• LOVED the shirt and the medal. The shirt is gender specific and CUTE (I should have a picture) and I will definitely wear again). The medal is awesome.
• This group put a lot of work into this event, I maybe would run again, although I am TOO OLD to be running at night! By the time we finished and drove Hope home and got the kids and got back home it was after midnight!!
• Pho was probably NOT the best pre-race food (2.5 hours before race time) - mildly upset stomach most of the race.