Baltimore Half-Marathon

Everything about the half-marathon was perfect.

This year, I did packet pickup and learned how to drive to the stadium using the official directions to reach the parking lot. It sounds silly but for years, I looked at the stadium map and the directions, but I could never figure it out. One big reason I wanted my husband to do the race with me was so that he could drive. This year, I finally figured out how to get there.

Last year, we left the house later and wound up scrambling for a parking spot after the roads closed, making it to the starting line with only 5 mins. to spare. This time, I made a detailed agenda because my husband would be doing the 5K and I would be doing the half-marathon. The agenda called for leaving the house earlier and we arrived at the stadium in plenty of time for parking.

Every single race (with the exception of the kid's fun run) was sold out this year. We watched the marathoners take off. First there were walkers, then wheelchair athletes, then the marathoners. I was surprised to see so many people scrambling to get in line at the last minute, but the sendoff was beautiful with confetti in the air.

Next, my husband took off with the 5K runners. The race starts off with a hill and I know he was really nervous about that hill. His strategy was to go out fast, rather than get stuck behind a mass of slow-moving people. It worked--too well. He hit mile 1 at 9 minutes, but then found himself out of energy for the rest of the race, which goes downhill. The route was also changed this year, which confused Tim and foiled his finish line strategy. Still, he had a great race and PR of 31:10--this is faster than my best time of 31:40!! He achieved his goal of being faster than I am.

Then, I headed over to the half-marathon start line which was about a half-mile away. I really had to go to the bathroom bad, and I was so grateful when I ducked into the Sheraton on the way and asked where the bathroom was, they directed me to it instead of making a fuss because I wasn't staying there. Of course, the next time I wanted to go, I got into the porta potty line like everyone else. The half-marathon begins at mile 13 of the marathon and I watched the marathoners go past on their way to Fort McHenry, and by the time we were ready to take off a little less than an hour later, the marathoners were coming back from FortMcHenry and passing us! Very impressive.

The day was the perfect temparature. In previous years, it's been in the 40s in the early morning, but it running clothes it felt like standing outside in the middle of winter in underwear. Today, the temperature was probably in the 50s in the early morning. Warm enough to stand outside and feel cool, but not cold. I hate being cold, so I put on two old long-sleeve shirts that I planned to discard, avoiding additional lines at the baggage check. Before the half-marathon start, the day was warming up nicely and I left my shirts near the start.

I still couldn't believe I was going to run 13.1 miles. But soon enough, confetti was released into the air and we started and headed past Johns Hopkins to Patterson Park. At the southwest corner of the park, we merged with the marathoners. As we went northward along the length of the park, there were actually two lanes, one for half-marathoners and one for marathoners, probably to ensure a gradual transition. But then the lane ended and we were all together. It was both inspiring and humbling to be running alongside people who had already run 16 miles, when were were only getting started with our race after three miles.

We ran northward through the dilapidated neighborhood in the east side of Baltimore. I've never seen so many boarded up houses. But people sat on their doorstep and watched and clapped and rang cowbells. Little kids gave runners a "high five." It made me feel really special. I reached mile 5 at about approximately 58 minutes, a bit off my projected time, and I hit mile 6 around 1:11, which is my 10K time on a flatter course. I was doing good. My right knee hurt, of course, but this went away as I went onward. I trained using a 4/1 run-walk ratio and now used it consistently throughout the race. Using a run-walk ratio was the smartest thing I ever did in training.

From about mile 5 to 10 the race is essentially one long climb....through the east side of Baltimore. Then runners come on Clifton Park which is pretty and then the beautiful Lake Montebello neighborhood. At the lake, there was a band playing and as I rounded the lake, I could hear strains of "I love rock 'n roll!" I loved it when neighborhoods play music. I never listen to music when I'm running, but I can see why so many people do because it's so motivational. The lake was beautiful and so was the older, established neighborhood around it. When I hit the 10 mile mark, I'd been running for nearly 2 hours. My hips began to feel sore, as they had during my longest run, so I'd expected this.

Then I came to the famous gummy bear station at 28th and Guilford when several volunteers stand around with silver platters with gummy bears. I let out a "ohhhhhhhh" and grabbed a handful. It was wonderful to put the little bears into my mouth one by one and chew them as I chugged along. By now, not only did my hips hurt, but everything below my hips were sore. The irony in all this was that my foot was fine--or at least it wasn't talking any louder than anything else below the waist.

The last 3 miles of the race are downhill, as the runners head south from the Johns Hopkins University campus to the finish. Before the race, I thought I would just coast through those last downhill miles. WRONG!!! I completely failed to consider how physically and psychologically difficult those last 3 miles can be--downhill or not. The hills had taken a lot out of me and I slowed to a shuffle. At times, I felt like my right leg was going to give out under me, and I slowed to a walk break, but never for more than a minute. Finally, it hurt too much to run, walk, then run again, so I just kept running very slowly. I was so very grateful for all of the spectators clapping, cheering, and playing music. Even if I wasn't visully aware of my surroundings in my fatigue, I could hear spectators say things like "just keep moving." And I did. I'm pleased with my race, satisfied with my time, but less than thrilled with the slow, shuffling finish.

And then I hit the finish line in 2:38:10 and it was all over. This race concludes a season of firsts for me.

I like this video and now I can totally relate--even if I didn't do a full marathon!