Last night I ran my 19th half marathon. Well almost half marathon. A 12.2 mile half marathon to be exact. I’m sure you are sitting there reading and wondering “did I read that correctly?” Well my friend you did so read on.
HP and I headed out of hometown to Davis for the Davis Moo-nlight Half Marathon around 5:30 p.m so we could pick up our packets and have plenty of pre-race time. Upon exiting the freeway we ran into some serious traffic. Although there was official event parking the race directors did not provide enough parking for the 3,000 participants and traffic had backed up. Our friend DG had beat us there and texted that there was parking at the IHOP. Cool enough except that I missed the turn for IHOP. I drove a couple more blocks made a u-turn and pulled into a full parking lot. Fail. I found a spot at the hotel behind IHOP. Score!
We made it over to packet pick-up and picked up our bibs and t-shirts. My last name falls at the end of the alphabet and the line is usually very short. With only two runners ahead of me I thought I’d have my bib in no time. But I stood and stood some more. There was some sort of problem with the registered runner at the front of the line. Finally it was my turn I was handed my bib by an adult volunteer and a pre-teen volunteer tossed my tech tee at me from the far side of the table. Hmmm, so much for customer service.
Back at the car I dug my running shoes out of my backpack and pinned the bib to the front of my tank. HP ran into the hotel for a quick potty stop and DG went in after HP returned. While waiting for DG this rude little man comes out and tells me that customers are complaining that the lot is full and to move my car. I did my best to keep my spot just a couple of blocks from the start but finally gave in and moved.
I made the short jog to the start to find my buddies and we watched the end of the kids race and headed to find the start. The start and finish were kind of hodge podged together and it was actually a little challenging to find the start. Another lit bit of frustration was that the 5K, 10K and half all had the same start time. This was yet another move by the race director that needs improvement.
I find that I must stop the story here and give my opinion of running a race with a stroller. Don’t. That’s my opinion. Don’t do it. Especially if you have not ever raced before and have no idea what your pace is. To the guy who easily breezed by me with the stroller just before the first mile marker you get on with your bad self because I am not talking about you. But to the all the others and to the walkers I applaud you for getting out there and doing work like the rest of us but please move to the back of the start line. The traffic at the start beat out the traffic on road coming to the race. While HP and I started at the 10 minute/mile marker we were forced to fight our way around strollers and walkers alike for much of the first mile. Very frustrating, I’m just saying.
So now back to the story. HP and I stayed together for the first 2ish miles. We were both running too fast and it was hot. We were on a stretch of road that paralleled a major freeway and it was somewhat stifling. HP said she was going to pull back a bit and we said our good lucks and see ya at the ends. For most of the next four miles I was running a comfortable pace and enjoying the scenery of the beautiful Davis park we ran around and through. The sun started to set and it began to cool some. Around mile 6 the 10K and half marathon runners were directed to split from the 5K runners. As I made the climb up the freeway overpass I came to the 7 mile marker. Huh? My Garmin had only logged just over 6 miles. What the freak? Did I miss a turn? How could I have? I never strayed from the group I had been running with. I figured the sign was placed in the wrong area and that the next mile marker would be in the appropriate place. That did not happen, ever. At each subsequent mile marker my Garmin was short a full mile. How could this be? I started losing sight of my goal of 2:15 (not a PR but still a decent time for a rehabber like me) and trying to figure what the hell happened. Just as my Garmin beeped to signal mile 12 a volunteer cheering us on said “3 blocks to the finish”. Ummm what? No sir I have a mile to go not 3 blocks. As I rounded the corner there was the finish. The clock read 2:06 and I was nearly 10 minutes ahead of my goal. I crossed the mat and a volunteer tossed a finish medal at me, (literally tossed) thanks a lot I thought. I searched out the water station and I looked around for DG who had a goal of 2 hours in his sights. I walked around a bit dazed and confused. Had my Garmin failed, had I failed, or was the course really a mile short? Mind you this was an USATF certified course. I sat down feeling deflated. Then I caught a glimpse of DG. He runs low tech, no fancy water bottles or watches, and I asked if he thought we were off. He thought so but couldn’t figure out how either. A few minutes later HP comes in and she is just as perplexed about the mileage. Now I know something is up because the chances of both Garmins failing was like zero to none.
So my official result is this: 12.2 mile Half Marathon 2:07:10. This would have been a PR by nearly a minute if I had of actually run 13.1 miles which I did not.
Needless to say I will not be shelling out any cash next summer to go and run this poorly managed event.
