Left Hand Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Longmont, CO

Sunday, April 27

Half Marathon #198

Weather - Warm and sunny at the start, fog in the middle

Random race that we signed up for pretty last minute. I knew I would have some running on schedule and since I'm still trying to hit my lifetime 200th half, figured that an inexpensive half marathon not too far from home that finished at a brewery would be right up our alley.

There was a "competitive" wave that started at 7:15 and then the slower folks were starting at either 7:30 or 7:45. (I still don't really know what the 7:30 wave was, but since I had only signed up a few days earlier I definitely knew I was in the last wave). We left the house just after 6:30 for the 35ish minute drive to Longmont. We hit some fog on the drive up (like visibility of about 10 feet), but by the time we parked at Left Hand it was sunny and getting warmer.

We picked up our bibs and used the bathroom before pinning our numbers on and heading to the start. I had been debating whether I wanted to just run as long as I could or if I wanted to start with intervals. Last minute decided to just see what would happen, I could always start intervals later.

It seemed that we would be starting in a group of maybe 40-50 runners, and the course was an out and back on the bike path. Zero expectations on this.

We started right on time at 7:45 and both of us planned to run with music in. The course was incredibly well marked! Lots of chalk arrows on the ground, plus signs at each turn AND course marshals anywhere it could be confusing. I had worn my vest even though we found out that we would hit a total of 7 water stations on the route.

I wore the rabbit button down until about mile 8-9 and took it off because I was chafing under my left arm

The first mile and half to the first aid station (and 5k turn around, which started at 9) went fine. I grabbed a cup of water and walked through the aid station. Everything seemed to be going pretty well until maybe 3-4 miles in (maybe right after the second aid station which was around 3.7 miles in. For a bit I started to take short walk breaks. Nothing seemed familiar until we hit a stretch near the St. Vrain Greenway, which I recognized from Rev Run and the Longmont half that I had run 10+ years ago. I told Ben that I was going to set up 2:30/1:00 intervals. For a while, these worked well and I was able to keep average pace under 11 minute miles.

Somewhere around 4-5 miles in the fog we had driven through hit the course. It was nice because it immediately lowered the temperature. About this same time was when I was suddenly feeling very sore and tired and my interval pace slowed substantially. Still  managed to DO the intervals, but the running pace was a lot slower. I don't recall what time we hit the turnaround, but we did get passed by at least a half dozen people in the half mile leading up to it.

Took a picture of the fogginess around 7 miles (?) in:

I was really struggling and it didn't help that my shuffle was playing garbage songs that I had to keep skipping through. Stopped to use the bathroom at the next aid station, and pretty sure we got passed by more people. Unfortunately the fog broke and it got pretty sunny again, although with the high forecasted to be close to 80, it didn't feel nearly as horrible as it could have.

We continued to get passed by people here and there, although even with our intervals we managed to keep a few of them in our sights. 

Once I knew we were getting close to being done (and the other folks started to take walk breaks) I tried to push through all my soreness. We both had a relatively "speedy" sprint of the last quarter mile or so at 9:30ish pace. Thankfully, it was finally over.

Official Time - 2:29:16

Overall Place - 88/110

Gender Place - 33/53

Division Place - 9/19

Garmin Time - 2:29:18

Garmin Distance - 13.18 miles

Garmin Pace - 11:20 (run time 2:06:31, walk time 22:08)

Mile 1 - 10:05

Mile 2 - 10:22

Mile 3 - 10:23

Mile 4 - 11:05

Mile 5 - 10:57

Mile 6 - 10:58

Mile 7 - 11:34

Mile 8 - 11:39

Mile 9 - 12:29

Mile 10 - 12:22

Mile 11 - 11:58

Mile 12 - 12:16

Miler 13 - 11:30

Mile 13.18 - 9:25 pace

We stuck around for our free beer, although there was not a ton of places to sit that were in the shade.

Thoughts:

• Signed up about a week out. Paid just over $70, using the discount from an ambassador that basically saved me money on the fees/taxes that were charged. Race registration included a shirt and medal (that doubles as a bottle opener), plus a free beer or NA beverage. Live music and vendors at the finish line. There is also a 5k that is not chip timed.
• Course - relatively flat, about 225 feet of gain/loss. (All the climbing was on the way back, I discovered after looking at my stats). Incredibly well marked.
• Would I do again? Probably not, but really only because I don't do a lot of road races anymore and this just happened to "fit" in my schedule. It was well organized and seemingly got a lot of bang for my buck compared to some other events.