Race #219
Half Marathon #79
2023 Race #12
2023 Half Marathon #6
Tryon Half #6
This race did not go according to plan but I still enjoyed it.
We arrived with enough time to get in a couple miles for warm up on the track right by the start. We called it a bit close (or so we thought) with a quick bathroom stop before we headed to the start thinking that the race started at 8. Right before we got up there, the race started so we took off.
A quarter mile later I heard Mom calling my name; we weren’t running together at that point.
Turns out that we had started with the 5k
A friend of ours and her husband were there to run the half. She saw us take off and texted Mom that we were running the wrong way.
After Mom got my attention, we walked back. Thankfully we had enough time since the half actually started at 8:15. I’m glad that our friend was there because all the other signs pointed to starting when we did. Every other previous year the half has started first going the same direction that the 5k did
Turns out that a bridge wash out changed the course a bit which added an additional challenge.
I had planned on attempting a similar if not slightly faster pace than Spinx a few weeks before. (I completely spaced on getting a recap up. Whoops. It went really well. Final time: )
Then came that first, new, loop. It had plenty of rather significant hills. Hills that definitely made me question my ability to carry out this pace. I let myself focus on effort instead of pace.
Towards the end of the loop, we headed down a familiar section, a section that normally takes place at the very end of the race.
Because of the warm up and the accidental extra mileage, I did not know the exact race distance but it seemed an awful lot like 5k. I had the thought that after all that, we had somehow ended up in the 5k. I was not happy.
Thankfully, all they did was torture us by having us run quite bear the finish before headed back out onto the road and rejoining the normal course for regular years.
At this point, I felt really good and much more optimistic. These miles passed quite quickly.
I don’t know exactly where the course diverged again but we soon found ourselves in a completely new area. I thought it was gorgeous but too hilly for what I expected. Then came mile 8/9 and a hill to almost rival some of the hills from Asheville.
I had to walk. I knew I would have a slower pace and overall time than I wanted but I did not mind because of all the course differences.
I had also started to notice that my splits, which I had attempted to sync at the first mile by hitting the lap button, were getting way, way off the course markers. I expected that considering the fact that we were in a fairly rural area the satellites might not be as precise and that this course does not certify the distance.
Thankfully, the last few miles included only small, manageable rollers which provided opportunity to get back to my desired pace.
As we approached the finish line, I decided to see how much faster I could get my legs to go but thanks to the mismatched garmin and race distances started a bit too soon, making the last little stretch a but uncomfortable.
When I could finally see the finish line clock (after completing another – unnecessary- lap around the track) I saw that it had just ticked over to 2 hours. While I would have loved to notch a time under two hours, this course had been way more hilly than I expected.
Mom came in a little while later, also a lot more tired than expected thanks to the course changes.
At this point, we started comparing distances and everyone we talked to said that their watch had measured close to 14 miles rather than 13.1.
That made so much sense, especially considering the fact that my Garmin showed me an 8:50 average including my close to 10 minute warm up miles while the official results said that my average was 9:11.
Without the extra .9ish miles, I would have notched a 1:54:xx time even with all those hills!
I finished out my cool down with a little under 2 miles on the track again for a total of 18 on the day.
I’m really pleased with where my fitness is right now.
Mom finished really well too!
