Today I ran my second half marathon in my attempt to run a half marathon a month for a year. For those of you who need a little help with math that means 10 more marathons in the next 10 months. The Cellcom half in Green Bay was the first one. This one was the Team Ortho half in Minneapolis not to be confused with the big mnpls Medtronic marathon in the fall. I believe this one was just over 4000 with 700 running the full. So it is quite a bit smaller than Green Bay.
I stayed at the Depot Renaissance Hotel which is where the expo and start line are at. I had a nice view of a long line of port a potties from my window. The room was nice. The expo was not. Two store booths and about 4 race booths and that was it. No crowd though - so I was able to buy a cute t- shirt and a pouch for my fuel belt. So, i guess it was good enough for me!
They gave us a nice technical t-.shirt and our choice of either a black or white hat or visor. No goody bag, but given the lack of useful items I have gotten at past races and the copious amounts of useless paper advertisements, I was okay with that.
The race - So I looked at the course and elevations and beyond a long and steep hill from mile 6-7 it didn't seem too bad. I should have known how much those elevation charts lie, lie, lie! It was going to be a warm one too Upper 60's - not as hot as when I ran the Chicago marathon in 2009, but at least 10 -20 degrees warmer than I would have liked.
The start went off without a hitch, but they did use a recorded version of the National Anthem which seemed a bit odd. I realized that no matter how much a singer doesn't hit all those high notes, I would much rather have a live person sing it. It pulls at the heart strings a bit
more.
The course is a scenically beautiful course - especially the first half which is relatively flat. I was actually able to look around and try to take in some of the scenery. I thought I was running fine, but given the temperature and hills in the second half, I may have been a bit fast. The long hill killed me. I was going to try and pick up the pace after the hill but I had to be satisfied just trying to get my rhythm back. The turn
around was after mile 9. I THOUGHT it was at mile nine and I know that a lot of people were thinking the same thing since I heard a lot of, "where is the turn around!?!". I think if you could see thought bubbles above everyone's heads they all would say the same thing plus a few swear words.
I wasn't very impressed with the water/Gatorade stops. Volunteers weren't good about yelling out if they had water or Gatorade. The second water stop was woefully under staffed. My biggest gripe is that they didn't have Gu until mile 9. Come on! The race is 3/4 done and NOW you are offering Gu??? Tsk, tsk..
Of course the long hill going up seemed much shorter going down. PLUS there were two smaller hills the mile before the finish. Several curse words were running through my mind and I am sure the race director's ears were burning and not from good things being said about
him. Hills are never my forte and putting them at the end of a hilly, hot 13 miles makes me want to walk. So I did. I don't care if you think
less of me. I kept on thinking "It is a beautiful morning. I should walk so I can enjoy it! This lack of mental stamina is why I am done with marathons except for Disney where I am determined to have a "fun" marathon. If that is possible.
The post race offerings were disappointing. My biggest gripe is that they only had small glasses of water, same as the ones on the course and also filled 1/2 to (if you were lucky) 3/4 full. I am not usually a big water drinker , but after a race I am, especially on a warm day. I want a BOTTLE of water or at least more than one place to get a puny glass. No chocolate chip cookies either. That ranks up there with not having beer. Granted we had free drink tickets to two area bars, but it is not the same as sipping a beer as you watch other runners finish. But of course this is Minnesota, not Wisconsin. On the plus side they were handing out whole bananas and apples. They also handed you paper bags with a bag of chips, chocolate teddy-type Grahams and my favorite post race treat - a Nutroll! Unfortunately it was bite size' slit doesn't make up for no chocolate chip cookies.
So, it was an okay race but there is definitely room for improvement.
If there are spelling errors, blame my iPad.
