Pine Belt Pacers Forum

I ran my first half marathon Labor Day weekend at the Virginia Beach Rock n Roll Half (http://www.rnrvb.com/) in Virginia Beach, VA. I chose this race because of the course and the view, all the music to distract me, and my mom lives there so I could also make it a family visit. I trained specifically for this race using a Runner's World SmartCoach plan for about 4 months. My pace improved dramatically over that time period so I wasn't sure what finish time I was aiming for. I was originally planning on anything under 2 hours but in the last 3 weeks or so of training I realized I could easily beat that so I choose 1:52 because that was the next fastest pace group. I wanted to run with a pace group since it was my first half and I am horrible at pacing.
I flew to Virginia on Thursday and went out to eat with my mom. On Friday I wandered around the expo and tried not to buy stuff. The Brooks gear is really impressive but all I bought was an oval sticker that says "13.1 Been there, run that" I also talked to the people at the pace group table and picked up a pace bib with my time (1:52). Saturday I went to the beach and worried about getting a sunburn and how that would affect my running. Saturday night I ate a simple dinner and laid out all my clothes- I put the D-tag on my shoes and pinned my number on my shirt. I was # 8000 which seems likes a pretty lucky number. I wasn't sure whether to put my pace time on my shirt. What if I fell behind and was embarrassing myself by being marked by a big green 1:52? Finally I decided to put it on anyway- more motivation to keep up with the group!
Race day! We took a picture of me looking like I'm not sure I want to do this. The weather was not too hot. The pre-race madness was very well organized. I got dropped off right where they recommended and it went well. I checked my gear bag at the UPS truck and grabbed a water bottle. I had brought a banana so I ate that and avoided all the fruit and sports drink tables. I hit the porta potty and then just walked around until it was time to go to the corrals. My corral was the 1:50 to 1:55 group and I found an unofficial pacer at the front of the corral. He was wearing a beard and ZZ Top hat and had an inflatable plastic guitar with the 1:52 bib taped to it. The regular pacer showed up without a fancy costume. There were beach balls being thrown around to keep the crowd occupied. The race started with the wheelchair division and then the elite women.
It was a wave start and I crossed the line at almost exactly 5:00 after the gun which was helpful along the course because I could just subtract 5 minutes from the clock time. I had trouble keeping up with the pacer for the first few miles because of the crowd. Eventually that got better but the pacer was hitting each mile about 15 seconds too fast. I skipped the water stops until about mile 6 when I had my first gel. The pacer was still going too fast (my goal time of 1:52 is a 8:30 mile) and I lost him at a water stop around mile 9. I had my second gel and got a little discouraged when I realized I wasn't going to catch back up to the pacer. The race got progressively more difficult from about mile 9. Since I normally do my long runs on the Trace I started telling myself that I only had to get from Jackson Road to the Gateway. At mile 10 someone was grilling sausage and I have never been so NOT hungry in my life. My right quad started burning but I realized that I was still on track to come in close to 1:52 so my attitude was okay. At the last water stop I drank 2 gulps and poured the rest on my head. The last mile was pretty painful but I still had that 1:52 bib on the back of my shirt and I didn't want to cross the line after that point and looked like an idiot! I am happy to report that I crossed the line at 1:51:26. The pacer was there waiting for all the runners he left behind with his too quick pace.
I was handed a water and then a sports drink and then a banana. The best thing I got was a chunk of ice I picked up out of one of the drink bins. I drank a few sips of water but immediately began to feel nauseous so I just kept walking. I got an iced towel and between that and my chunk of ice I just hung out for a while. I passed up the Popsicle because just looking at it made me feel sick but later on I regretted that decision! I didn't sit down because I didn't really think I'd be able to get up again without help. Eventually I was able to continue hobbling and received my finisher's medal and hit the line of freebies to collect all my goodies. I found a nice patch of grass and drank my water and ate my banana.
The race website has a video of everyone crossing the finish line that is searchable by race number which is a cool idea. I am number 8000 wearing a green shirt and black shorts: http://www.rnrvb.com/videoreplay.html
The rest of the day was spent recuperating. Monday I spent travelling which made my sore legs worse. I went for a slow and easy swim Tuesday morning which really helped relieve the sore leg muscles. My right quad took the longest to recover.
All in all I couldn't have asked for a better race experience. I'm pretty bored by the recovery period and am already contemplating my next race.
Laura

Congratulations, Laura! You were awesome! I am gonna do my 1/2 marathon in January, and there's no way I will finish anywhere close to 1:52. Your determination is commendable. Well done!

Woohoo! You did it girl! I'm glad you had 'fun'. I hope I have that much fun when I finally do one of those. Here's a pat on the back....

Nice race. That is amazing for any race, but for your 1st half, wow! Congrats!