On Sunday March 25th I ran the ORRRC Half Marathon in Xenia Ohio. Finish time was 2:21:34 just a few from another personal best!!! I got up early around 4:45 a.m because I was meeting several friends for this years race. Several of us were doing the half and a couple were doing the full marathon. Xenia is a small little town near Dayton Ohio, infamous for its F5 tornado in the 1970's.
This race was (for me) more of a checkpoint. I wanted to see where I was at and what kind of shape I am in. I am doing the Cap City Half Marathon in May and would like to go for a personal best, so this was a race to jump off from.
Needless to say I was floored with my time!!! The weather was perfect, a little foggy, cloudy and cooler. My only complaint was that once you got going you could really feel the humidity. The course itself is admittedly a little bland, but I enjoy small town races. Calling it pancake flat is a little bit of a lie. There are some small rollers in the first 5 miles and a gradual incline on the bike path. When you turn around to come back into town that portion is really flat.
There were a little over 1,000 people which is much larger than what I thought. Packet pick-up was well organized and for an early bird fee of $25 I would highly recommend checking this race out. The post race snacks were awesome, a variety of drinks (coke, pepsi, water, gaterade, etc) and the food was AWESOME!! They had soups and a bunch of homemade cookies. YUM!
Overall, I thought this was a well organized race from start to finish. I was appreciative of the volunteers who always had a smile on their face. It was well supported for it's size. Highly recommended half marathon, full marathon might get lonely.
The following picture was taken by Leslie:
This experience was helpful because before the race I was floundering a little bit when it came to my goals. Now I am clear. I want to PR (or at least train to PR) in a half- marathon and then build on that training to PR in a full marathon. I am DETERMINED to accomplish this. What I like about a half is that the distance is manageable. You can train for it and still have a life (or write a dissertation). It is a challenge, and a rather refreshing one right now!
In order to do this I have picked out two more races before Cap City in May. The Westerville Bunny Hop 5k, and the Greenswell Glacier Ridge 10k. I intend to race both to get a sense of time and speed. I know this seems strange but at least at this PR attempt I am mostly going to be doing more mileage. What I generally lack is discipline to run the miles, especially during the week. The resources I found suggest that a mileage build-up is key. The next time I want to PR speedwork will be in order, especially when I think about my fall marathon.
Overall, I am really excited to have some specific, very focused goals. Of course I know things can happen, race day weather, illness, injury..but at least this will be something to look forward to!
Now..where are those jet packs :)
