One of the commitments I made this year was to run four half marathons while I was in Kansas. The first race for the spring was the “Rock the Parkway Half Marathon” on April 9, 2016. Despite the weather, the race turned out to be a good start to the spring.
I worried all week about the weather before the race. The race was scheduled for7:30AM so I knew that I would be standing in the starting corrals during the coolest part of the day. As I recall, it was in the low 40s or high 30s at the start of the race. I wore running plants, a long sleeve running t-shirt, and knit gloves to begin the race. I took the gloves off after about a mile or so as expected. By the end of the race, the temperature had risen to the high 40s, so I think I made the right call. When the race was over, I certainly appreciated the heat blanket as I walked back to my truck.
The course of the race was flatter than expected. After the fall races, I feared a hillier run, so I was happy the course was as flat as it was. However, I kept waiting for the next steep hill—that never came, this affected my speed. I kept saving some for the end. The route was also more interesting than expected with a down and back trip along Ward Parkway. The divided roadway actually made the route more interesting by appearing to be a separate road through most of the run. The prepared water points were very well planned and there were excellent volunteers there to help. The one critique of the race was that there were not as many bands or entertainment as I expected. I thought “Rock the Parkway” would mean more music along the route. However, the organizers can only do so much.
I ran the race fairly well, matching my times for other “first half marathons of the season” in years past. I also learned some lessons for this. I possibly could have had a better time, but made two mistakes that prevented a faster time. First, I underestimated my overall potential. I began the race with the 2:15 pace group, so I started much slower than I was capable of. I run the first couple of miles at a 10:15 to 10:30 pace, until I slowly broke ahead out of necessity. This slow start chewed up some time that could have made a difference at the end. I believe in starting slow, but this was too slow. There is a balance to meet. The second mistake was not getting back up to pace fast enough after the water point. I walk all water points, but after one water point I looked down at my watch and saw that it was way under where I wanted to be and simply stepped it back up. This mistake could have easily been fixed, but now I know not to enjoy the water break too much.
The “Rock the Parkway Half Marathon” was an enjoyable race. I am now focused on my next race and I can take these lessons and apply them there.