fitgeeks | Right, so, yeah, that happened...

A few more thoughts on the half marathon now that I'm home with a real keyboard instead of just my phone. I'll stop blathering about this thing after this post, I just wanted to get the thoughts down.

It goes without saying that the course was amazing. Of course running through the parks was awesome, but having characters all through the parks, and several dozen high school, college, and professional marching bands, cheerleading squads, and pep squads was really cool too. As we ran through Angels stadium they arranged it so that you'd appear up on the jumbotron. (I think my favorite part was seeing Malefecent standing with arms outstretched on the inside of the castle battlements with the Evil Queen and Cruella DeVille down signing autographs--the princesses were on the other side (the outside) of the castle, apparently having been locked out by the villains.)

Technically, the course was also pretty great. It wasn't completely flat, but the hills weren't so overwhelming that they took much more out of you. There was one ~1/4 mile stretch on an unpaved trail, but it was so packed down that it was like running on pavement.

This was the best organized and produced race I've ever been in by miles. Over 14k people ran in it and after the first mile or so, I barely had do to any dodging around people because of the way they organized people by time. There were people who were running near me in the first couple of miles who were running near me at the finish line, which never happens. Also, instead of tiny mile markers that I always miss, they had 10x10 billboards with race timers built into them.

It was also clear that most people were not taking this as a really serious race. Aside from those in costume, people were lining up to get their pictures taken with characters and generally goofing off and having a good time with it. And when I say lining up for pictures, I mean lines of 10-15 people long.

There were many awesome t-shirts. I think this is my favorite, although I can't find a picture of the one that made me think of

random_girl. On the back it said:

The running shoes are my glass slippers.
The race is my ball.
The finish line is my prince charming.
And the accomplishment is my happily ever after.

This one made me think of

baronlaw and the 7th seas games. Oh, and of course the guys who had the home made Team Beer t-shirt made me think of everyone at con. (They all had their own quotes written on them, such as, "You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!" and "Longest Beer Run Ever.")

Everyone in the world should use D-Tag timing chips instead of those stupid things you have to lace into your shoes. Not only were they much easier to put on, but I was able to set it up so that it emailed people I wanted when I ran 5k, 10k, 15k, and the full race and what my times were. Also, since they are disposable, instead of standing in line at the end of the race to get it cut off my shoe, I was handed a cooling towel and a medal was placed around my neck. Much cooler.

As for my performance, I'm kinda shocked by it. I had planned on running 12 minute miles, and expected to be closer to 12.5 min/mile. I ended up running 11 minute 11 second miles. The thing is, I knew I was going faster than I had planned, but I felt so good doing it that I decided to just keep it up as best as I could. It seems to have worked out. Also, the training schedule I was using is highly recommended. (Oh, and by comparison, the winner of the race did it in slightly over an hour and seven minutes, so clearly I have room for improvement.)

Oh, and handy tip for those who set up special playlists on their ipods for the big fancy race they're participating in: Make sure you have that playlist cued up instead of one that sounds similar to but isn't the one you spent hours getting just right or you won't notice it until several miles into the race. D'oh.

Anyway, to justify putting this post in the Fitgeeks group, let me just say that half marathons are definitely doable. If you can run, you can train up to a 5k. If you can run a 5k, you can train up to a 10k. And if you can run a 10k, you can train up to a half marathon in just 10 weeks or so. I'm living proof. Now I just have to figure out if the next logical step in the progression (half marathon to marathon) is an actual notion, or just the running version of the post con "Hey, I've got a great idea for our next game!"

For those who care, my mile times (Unofficial, from my watch. My official time was about 10 seconds different):