This was my very first half last year, so I was looking forward to running it again, even tho the weather is typically pretty horrible, it was last year and again this year.  I'm not sure why we race in weather like this, but I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Dewpoint 74*, 99% humidity, let's go run a half marathon!

I bumped from corral 2 to corral 1 this year, that felt good.  But I figured I'd start at the back of the corral and try to take it easy at first and see how I felt with the heat.  First few miles felt good, averaged 7:06 for my 5k split, not bad given the weather.  I was just getting ready to start picking up the pace when I felt it, that rumbling deep in your gut that every runner fears.  I'll spare you the details, but I will tell you that I learned a very important lesson today.  Drinking a half pot of coffee before a race is a very bad idea.  It was only two cups, but we have really big cups (what can I say, we like coffee!).  I don't know why I did it, I never drink coffee before a race, a little bit of oatmeal and a little bit of water, that's my routine, should have stuck to it.  So I fought it off as long as I could, while my pace steadily dropped, but eventually had to make a pitstop, my first ever during a race!  When I got back on the course, I felt better, but just couldn't get back on pace.

I still managed to shave 11 minutes off of my time from last year with a 1:39:42, and would have been faster if I had spared myself the GI issues, I'll take that.  Next year I'm shooting for sub-1:30 in the heat, we'll see how it goes.

I think this is my shortest RR ever!  I'll post up pictures if any get posted, I was flying solo, so no before/after pics.  I'll have to start getting other people to take pics of me. lol

Nice course PR! Solid time, especially with all things considered!!!! Sorry about those GI issues

I get random people to take pictures of me at races all the time when I don't have anyone I know there....hehe. Gotta have pics for the RR!

That was fuckin' hilarious man!  Not funny ha-ha, just funny how you wrote it.

Um yeah, no, coffee is a bad deal if you are not used to it and even if you are, you have to allow time for it to doo what it has to doo.  lol

Good stuff D, let us know when you upload the run so we can see how long you were in there your splits.  ; )

congrats on the course pr and the lesson learned. i'm sometimes tempted to try something new but this will serve as another reminder. great job!

It's a great feeling to go back and re-do your first race.  Definitely a sense of accomplishment to see the time drop.  Sorry about the added delay!  I could not make it to the start w/o coffee, but I allow an extra hour for things to happen.

Thanks everyone!  Sorry for the lack of individual replies, I'm on my iPad.

Just found out that 13 people ended up in the hospital and one died. RIP runner.

Just found out that 13 people ended up in the hospital and one died. RIP runner.

Wow, that's really sad.

Thanks Lily! I paid for it, wasn't going to back out! lol Plus it's a Grand Prix race for my running club.

Thanks Kristin! I'm sure some pics of me will pop up.

Thanks Phil! I am not changing my name to that! LOL Always good to learn something from a race, right?

Thanks LRB! It may have cost me more in slowing down my pace than it did time actually spent in the portapotty (it was a quick stop lol). I don't have my exact splits, but looking at the 5k/10k/15k splits on the race site and there is a definitely slowdown at the 15k split. lol

Thanks Scotty! They must have changed the route, it's only about a half mile on the boardwalk now, not too bad.

Thanks Ric! Yup, nothing new on race day, I'll be writing on the blackboard 100 times.

Thanks Damaris! I'm really looking forward to training hard and giving Shamrock all I've got!

Thanks jjs! It's definitely a great feeling getting to run it again, even in less than ideal conditions. I love coffee and drink it all the time, but never before a race (until today, doh!).

Thanks redrum! Yeah, the weather sucked, they interviewed the top females (a team from Japan) and they were saying how much it slowed them down.

According to some preliminary info, the runner that died may have been due to a head injury from a fall, still very sad.