Maryland Half Marathon Race Report!

Despite the hills, the humidity, and half a week of anxiety about the weather, I had an awesome race yesterday at the Maryland Half Marathon.

I woke up at my normal work wake up time (bonus of a race 35 minutes from my house that doesn’t start until 8am and is small enough not to need corrals!) after a surprisingly restful night of sleep. I think I slept so much because at some point yesterday I made the decision that that this could potentially no longer be a true goal race for me thanks to two forces beyond my control–1. The weather was supposed to be bad, with moderate to heavy rain and thunderstorms during the race and 2. the final course was A LOT hillier than what I had trained for. The couple of times I did wake up Saturday night, it was pouring outside. So yeah, not looking good.

When Noel and I left the house, it wasn’t raining, but the skies were threatening. It stayed gray our whole way to Maple Lawn, and as I lined up at the start, it was comfortable but humid, with gray skies. Since it wasn’t actually raining at the start, I decided to line up with the 2.10 pace group. I had given myself some tiered goals for this race, with the overall goal to break my 2.20.20 PR from the Walt Disney World Half in January and with the top tier goal of coming in under 2.10. I figured I wasn’t going to have a shot at 2.10 unless I actually tried for it by lining up with the pacers, so I made the decision and joined the group.

Before I knew it, we were off! The first mile of the race was a BIG downhill. I kept thinking to myself, if this is the downhill, I’m going to be in trouble when I see the uphill! After that first downhill, we proceeded to run up and down, up and down, up and down, non-stop, for the next 13.1 miles. I’m not joking here. Some of the hills were small, some were bigger, and some, like the monster at mile 4.5 were so big and brutal that I would say 90 percent of the people on the course were WALKING.

But here’s where I’m most proud of myself. I didn’t walk any of those hills, AT ALL! When we got to a hill, I would get behind one of the pacers–the awesome Carrie and Mark from Baltimore Pacemakers–and I would focus on the back of their shirt. And just keep going. We lost almost our entire pace group after we reached the top of that hill at mile 4.5. But I was still there. After that point, I knew I had a 2.10 in me. The pacers complimented on me on my even pace and I was really proud–I was going to do this thing!

I ran with the 2.10 group–what was left of us–until the water stop at mile 10. At that point, I knew we only had a 5k left, and I wanted to try to pick up the pace a bit to see if I could finish under 2.10. I knew it would be a risk, since mile 11 was where I had crashed and burned at Disney, but I also knew I could always fall back and finish with the pace group if I needed to. So I picked it up. And started passing some people. The hills continued, and in mile 12 we ran this weird mini out and back which REALLY confused me (and to be honest made me quite mad!). But then I was there. On the final downhill to the finish. When I saw the clock I sprinted–well as much of a sprint as possible after 13 miles!

And I finished! With an official chip time of 2.09.24. A MAJOR PR–nearly 11 full minutes off my time at WDW. I was so happy, I started to tear up. I’ve trained so hard for this, and despite a course that I could have let beat me and spit me out, I accomplished all of my goals and PRed in a BIG way. Just goes to show what you can do with good training and hard work!

After the race I waited in line for my free massage/stretch, which was SOOOO worth the wait, and jammed out to the cover band that was playing. Then Noel and I headed back for a celebratory meal and a beer at Saute, which has somehow become our traditional post race celebration spot.

What a day. What a time. And what a runner’s high! This is why I love this sport!

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