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Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon
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Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon
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Comments: It looks like 1860 runners started the half marathon and 460 total runners who started the full marathon. I think that this includes the relay folks since the numbers changed after the relay results were announced. The weather was very overcast with mist/drizzle throughout. Loopy course. Very flat. My Garmin 310 really exaggerates elevation gains and it got 111 climbing feet over the 13.1 mile course. The half and full runners lined up together and I lined up with the 3:45 pace group. I thought (hoped?) the Pacer said 8:40 pace. Good, I thought, I'm targeting 8:45! Well, he actually said 8:30. I wanted to stay with the Pacer for at least 6 miles. I put the stress on him. I just kept pushing it on him. I stayed with them until mile 8 and let them go. The course consisted of one lap around Wrightsville Beach (about 3 miles) and then cross the causeway and head up to Military Cutoff Road (at about mile 4). Continue on Military Cutoff until mile 6 and then loop through Landfall golf community until about mile 11. One more mile on Military Cutoff (repeating a part of the course we'd already been on) and then finish in Mayfaire shopping area. Mostly flat and pleasant. Lots of crowd support. One of the neat things about the event was the aid station theme -- NCAA basketball. Since it is March and North Carolina is very into March Madness (NCAA basketball tournament) they had different alumni groups hosting the aid stations. There was a North Carolina State Wolfpack station complete with Mr. Wuf. There was a very purple LSU station and a UNC station. What would you do differently?: I think that the pre race communications wasn't that great and I should have read more closely because some small things changed after I read it and I managed to miss it. For example, it went from race start at 6:30 to line up for race at 6:30, start at 6:40. That was not a big deal but made me mad at myself.  Post race
Warm down: Many post race activities for runners and families. Emma and Kevin met me and I grabbed half a banana for me and half a banana for Emma. They also had water, coffee, BEER, soda, sports drink, fresh pineapple and several other kinds of fruit, and PIZZA. Great post race food all under a tent. Massage was also available. The volunteers were GREAT. Event comments: This is not the best race that I've ever done but it was right up there. The things that I think that they dropped the ball on were (1) they should have provided course maps, (2) they should have specified that women would get women's size shirts and not unisex shirts, (3) pre race communication should have been better for out of towners (directions to packet pickup) and changes should have been in bold or something, (4) should have handed out gels (especially since the website mentioned it, yet I was never offered one). The volunteers were great and the course was surprisingly good. News coverage: * http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20120318/ARTICLES/120319684 * http://www.luminanews.com/article.asp?aid=9930&iid=316&sud=30 * http://www.wect.com/story/17264996/runner-collapses-during-marathon... Last updated: 2011-12-05 12:00 AM
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 2012-03-20 12:49 PM |
Master  9705     Raleigh, NC area |  Subject: Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon |
| 2012-03-20 3:48 PM in reply to: #4104994 |
Veteran 312 Southern Pines, NC | Subject: RE: Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon I was pretty upset about the gender specific sizing too! If they had specified that when we registered I would have planned differently. I was doing the full so I was afraid that by the time I finished I wouldn't be able to exchange my shirt. Luckily my AWESOME boyfriend runs much faster and he exchanged it for my while I was still out on the course! |
| 2012-03-20 8:35 PM in reply to: #4104994 |
Elite 3683  Whispering Pines, North Carolina | Subject: RE: Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon Nice job on your half! Yeah, I was not digging the line up to start times...Just say the race starts at x time, you know?! As for the gels, did they not offer them for the half? I saw plenty all over the course and the volunteers were practically throwing them at me...weird. |
| 2012-03-20 10:45 PM in reply to: #4105713 |
Elite 3060 N Carolina | Subject: RE: Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon d00d - 2012-03-20 9:35 PM Nice job on your half! Yeah, I was not digging the line up to start times...Just say the race starts at x time, you know?! As for the gels, did they not offer them for the half? I saw plenty all over the course and the volunteers were practically throwing them at me...weird. x2. I was offered plenty of gels (I did the full marathon). |
| 2012-03-21 10:34 AM in reply to: #4105873 |
Master 9705 Raleigh, NC area | Subject: RE: Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon It's good to know that the gels were there. I looked for them and did not see them. I'm glad it was just me. I'll be back for the half. How was it running the full? Were there enough runners? Was the course super loopy? If they had a pace group for me... (4:15) |
| 2012-03-24 5:39 AM in reply to: #4104994 |
Expert 1118 , North Carolina | Subject: RE: Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon |
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60F / 16C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 493/1821
Age Group = F 40-44
Age Group Rank = 17/155
On Saturday morning we drove from Raleigh to Wrightsville Beach (2-2.5 hours). We had a little bit of a hard time locating packet pickup since it said something like "Mayfaire events field" but there were no signs or anything. Once you got close, though, there was a big tent.
Packet pickup and the expo were good for a medium size event. Since all of this took place in a tent, my dog Emma came with us. Not only was she welcomed, people offered her water and apologized for not having a bandana for her. Ah, the life of a golden retriever.
The only hitch in the packet pickup (once we located the tent) was the t-shirt size. The registration did not specify mens/womens shirts so I registered based on a unisex shirt (apparently so do a whole lot of other women). I ended up with a shirt that would fit a Barbie. I was able to exchange it after the race.
After the expo, we headed to the beach. Not just any beach, mind you, but the Beach2Battleship start area! The weather was great and we -- Kevin, Emma and me -- hung around there for a while, noted the jellyfish (we spotted at least five) and then checked into our hotel.
For this trip we experimented with staying at Waterway Lodge (http://www.waterwaylodge.com/Rates.html) on the Wrightsville Beach causeway. This hotel was very clean, had 1970s decor and tile floors, and allowed pets (with pet fee). It was convenient in that I walked to the start but it was not as nice a hotel as the Jameson Inn which also allows pets and is less expensive but also less convenient.
On Saturday evening we went out for pizza, my usual pre-event meal.
I got up at 5:15 on Sunday morning, walked Emma and then had a bagel with peanut butter and a 24 oz water bottle with Camelbak Elixir.
Walk from hotel to race start, about 10 minutes.