Baltimore Half-Marathon Oct 18, 2003, 9:30AM Weather: 54F, 66% RH, sunny, light/no wind
Stats: 1:40:26 gun time, 1:39:51 chip time, 4/220 AG, 30/1307 OA
This race was part of a 5-event 'Baltimore Running Festival" which included a marathon, marathon
relay, half-marathon, 5K, and 1-mile kids' fun run. The half-marathon started at the halfway point
of the marathon course, and we ran our race with the marathoners. It was my first half-marathon, but
since I'd recently raced 20K, I wasn't that worried about the distance. I was a little worried about
the hills, since there are none where I live and I've been slack about hill training lately.
My plan was to go out conservatively for the first 7 miles, then pick it up from there. Miles 4 -7
contained most of the uphills and miles 10 - 13 were mostly downhill, so this seemed reasonable.
Without going into too much detail: this was a really good race. I felt strong the whole way through
(except mile 12, for some reason). The hills really weren't that bad, even for this flatlander.
There was a lot of crowd support as we ran through yuppie enclaves and crack neighborhoods. I got
around my water-stop problem by only stopping once, sometime after 8 miles. Most striking was the
experience of running in cool weather. Since I live in Florida I often have no choice but to run and
race in very hot and humid weather. Not having to deal with that nasty overheated feeling left me
with a lot more in the second half of the race. The difference was just amazing. I crossed the line
as the clock read 1:40:26, in no more pain than was appropriate.
My husband ran this race also. He ran into some ITB trouble, had to stop some, decided to bail,
decided not to, and still finished in 1:39:07.
Splits:
7:14 (.9 miles, from 13.1 --> 14)
8:43
9:46
10:53
11:41
12:00
13:45
14:00
15:34
16:29
17:02
18:39
19:52
20:21 (.2 miles)
The half-marathon has just become my favorite distance.
Hope all your races went your way.
Karen