Govenor's Cup ½ Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Went out faster than I wanted too and once I pulled it back a tiny bit, I was able to maintain a pretty solid pace that felt comfortable. I dealt with some cramping in my lats during the first two miles and once I hit the first water station all I cared about was peeing. There was a portajohn in the middle of mile 8 and I had to wait so that time's a little higher than the rest. I booked it from the aid station at mile 7.5 once they told me there was one ahead.

I really didn't do much with the water due to the temps and the fact that I had to pee for well over half the race. Only one station had gels and I took one and I think that helped towards the end.

My training on hills similar and those in the course helped as I was passing people left and right going up hills and then on the final climb to the finish, I must have passed about 30 people. About mile 11, my feet started to hurt but seeing my brother and some other people I knew about .5 mile later let me pick the pace up. That was also when I knew I had enough in the tank to crank it up and that I could break 1:50.

I spent the whole race in no mans land, where I could see the tail of the 8 minute and up pack but there was nobody behind me. I hung with them till mile 4 when I let my ego go so I'd be able to finish. In hindsight, having a bunch of "rabbits" helped.

All in all I was happy, fun course, well put on. Lack of spectators but it's Columbia. I got a lot of fingers and horns honked but the police did an amazing job of directing traffic so I never had to break stride.

No beer the night before, drank too much to get rid of the cotton mouth and ended up having to pee forever.
Keep sweats on longer as I froze.
Pace myself better and try to hang on to the faster group.
Start at the beginning, I figured I'd be 3/4 back not in the front 1/2 so I started way in the back and was fighting elbows and "groups" of runners non-stop.

Walked 4 blocks, got a bagel, water, sat down and stretched.


Having to pee, being used to pacing myself by 1/2 miles not by miles.


Good race, aid stations were further than the advertised 2 miles apart. I wasn't really expecting much (it's freaking Columbia, SC) and it was about on par with my expectations. Would have liked to see the start more organized, other than just a mass of people.