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P. F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Phoenix, Arizona
United States
Elite Racing Inc.
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 29m 48s
Overall Rank = 6252/14046
Age Group = F40-42
Age Group Rank = 800/1860
Pre-race routine:

Overall rank is out of women only as they didn't list overall rank. Since there were 21985 people in the race I REALLY am not motivated to slog thru 2100+ pages of results to find my overall rank. I'm slow and I know it :)

I have an ortho friend Michelle from Denver and this all started because she was going to do the full and we thought it would be fun if I did the 1/2 since we were going to be in town for a meeting anyway, and we know the woman who is in charge of the medical tent. Then a bunch of people from Michelles running club were doing the race and she kind of bailed on me and went and stayed with her friends from home. I was really not excited about the whole thing. I made a conscious decision to not have this race be a priority. My meeting and having fun with friends I almost never get to see was more important than doing well at this race. Its a rare thing for me to be able to have someone to do anything social with and I was not going to give up that for a training race.

I got up at 4 as the woman I was sharing my room with had an early flight. I just got up and went. I did get a primo parking spot tho. I hoped for a SLOW bus ride to the start. I slept on the ride. I seriously considered riding the bus back and forth a few times. I was one of the first people to the start. I did not bring my iPod which was a huge mistake as I was told I would not need it because of all the bands along the route. I did find Michelle and her group after a while but they were all doing the marathon. I ditched my dry clothes about 30 minutes til the start and got in my corral. Mostly the whole time I just hung out, drank too much cytomax and had some sports beans.
Event warmup:

trying to stay warm
Run
  • 2h 29m 38s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 11m 25s  min/mile
Comments:

Well I REALLY should have hit a porta potty ONE MORE TIME before the start but I was tired of standing in line. I REALLY and I mean REALLY had to pee. They did an execellent job of spreading out the 21900+ runners I have to say...46 corrals how crazy is that? So we start off and inside the first mile I saw a McDonalds.....I run off the course and ran up to the store but a bunch of other people had the same idea and there wasa huge line. At the first aide station I stopped and used the porta potty....small line but I would have been joining the yellow socks club if I had not stopped. I timed the stop of course 1:10 I think thats pretty good.

When I started running again I was right behind the 2:07 pace group which would have been just DANDY with me. I kept up with them for a while but then the 2:15 pace group started to catch the 2:07 group......WTF???? anyway I kind of started to crump about 5K in. Everything just hurt. My feet hurt my quads hurt my hips hurt well you get the point.

At about 6 miles and after a few walk breaks I went to a run 4:30 walk :30 for a while, then 1 minute walk breaks then just walk breaks....I walked a LOT probably at least 20 minutes of the race. The bands were entertaining but I would have been happier with my iPod. I re-filled my hand held about 4 times but I lost a lot of water nd sodium. I should have thought to bring some electrolytes. There were SO MANY people in the race I was surrounded almost the whole time. It was like a 13.1 mile 5K. Basically it was a giant sufferfest. We came over a bridge at the 20K mark and I was at 2:23 and change so I had to hustle and pick it up to stay under 2:30..made it.

What would you do differently?:

Give a rats ass about the race
Taper
Be better rested
Not be overweight (Post IM weight gain EWW)
Use my iPod
Not be getting a cold
Be better rested

Post race
Warm down:

Fight the crowds. OMG it was completely INSANE at the finish. So freaking crowded. I've never done a race that big. I don't think I liked it. At all. I had meet up plans with various people but I didn't think I would find anyone in the crush. I went to my car and then was stuck in the circle of hell that was phoenix surrounded by the marathon and half marathon courses. Took me over 2 hours to get the 8 miles back to my hotel.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Too tired, too fat, too sore, getting sick, didn't care about the race

Event comments:

I'm just disappointed because I have run this distance many times before both in races and in training and it all just felt plain awful. I have not been recovering well from any runs over 5-6 miles well since I fell Christmas eve. I made a decision to enjoy myself with my friends in the days leading up to the race so no regrets really...the meeting and socilaizing were more important.




Last updated: 2008-11-08 12:00 AM
Running
02:29:38 | 13.1 miles | 11m 25s  min/mile
Age Group: 800/1860
Overall: 6252/14046
Performance: Bad
Course: South of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. Pretty flat
Keeping cool Below average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2009-01-20 7:29 PM

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Champion
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Williamston, Michigan
Subject: P. F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half Marathon


2009-01-20 7:33 PM
in reply to: #1919144

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Master
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Wisteria Lane
Subject: RE: P. F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half Marathon

You should read my report...I didn't stop to pee.  LOL  I should have been smart like you!!

Great job out there!  :>

2009-01-21 8:49 AM
in reply to: #1919144

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Champion
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MA
Subject: RE: P. F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half Marathon

You have the right attitude about the race Sue.

Wishing you had one of your great runs like your recent training runs at the race. Heal up, don't get sick and next up is the Princess 1/2.

 

2009-01-21 9:10 AM
in reply to: #1919144

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Master
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Surprise, Arizona
Subject: RE: P. F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half Marathon
Sorry you didn't have such a great day at the race, but congratulations on fighting through the crowds and getting it done in under 2:30.  Hope you at least enjoyed the rest of the time you were in town!
2009-01-21 7:04 PM
in reply to: #1919144

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Extreme Veteran
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Columbia, South Carolina
Subject: RE: P. F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half Marathon
Good job getting it done - your race report read a whole lot like mine.  Tough, very crowded race indeed!  (and the traffic mess afterwards really was a disaster!)
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