This was one of the toughest long-distance courses I have ever raced. It was cold and dark when the gun went off at 6:30 AM. The race started in the historic downtown and headed out toward the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains. Miles 1-4 were a rolling climb, 4-6 were all downhill, then straight back up to the turnaround point. (Check out the elevation profile here.) The scenery at the halfway mark was gorgeous: the sunrise burning the mist off the farm fields and spring-green hills in distance. But the enjoyment was short lived. My quads took a pounding on the steep hill leading down to the 8-mile mark. Miles 8-11 were straight back uphill, followed by another painful dip-and-climb between 11 and 12, then (finally!) a mile-long downhill to the finish.
As a result of the elevation, splits were meaningless. My fastest mile was 5:58 and my slowest was 7:13. I eventually stopped paying attention. Despite the punishing downhills (they were far worse than the uphills), I felt the effects of all the recent threshold training. I was able to pick up the pace over the last 5K and maintain a quick turnover through the finish. Final time: 1:24:49.
After the race, Mary and I ate breakfast at a diner (huevos rancheros with sausage links), toured the University of Virginia campus (designed by Thomas Jefferson), had lunch (giant slice of pizza) and listened to the street musicians downtown, visited Monticello, ate BBQ (half a slab of ribs, coleslaw, fries and baked beans), and drove home (which included an ice cream cone pit stop).
Besides running and eating, I gained a new appreciation for Jefferson while in Charlottesville. He seemed like a intellectuality curious man, as evidenced by the experimental devices and design elements he included in Monticello.
Quote of the trip: two guys standing next to me at the starting line were discussing their goals for the race. The first guy mentioned his target time. The second guy said, "my only goal is not to crap my pants." I turned to him and said, "that is my goal every day." We all agreed that running or not, it is good to keep that goal in mind.
Also, I met a guy at the start who was running 50 marathons in 50 weeks. (The half and full marathons started together.) He is raising money for the Wounded Warrior program. This was week 14. Good luck!
Paul, you are an athlete, foodie, scholar, and humorist. Nice work on the half marathon. We looked up the results on Sunday in Ashland. Tim pointed out that the half was sponsored by Whole Foods and the full was sponsored by Miller Lite. Funny. By the way, your pre-race banter with strangers has to rank up there on the all-time list.
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