Five Weeks, Three Half Marathons {Race Recap}

I completed half marathon #3 of 2015 on Saturday and couldn’t be more pleased with my accomplishment.  When I set my goal to run a Spring half marathon, I never thought I would run 3 over the course of just five weeks.  I usually only run two half marathons a year  so this was big accomplishment for me.  The Noblesville Half Marathon was the perfect race to complete this accomplishment and to end my spring half marathon season.

(Check out my other two half marathon recaps: Carmel Half Marathon & Indy Mini Half Marathon)

I woke up late on Saturday morning and was rushing around to get breakfast, nurse Max, pack up for a trip to Fort Wayne after the race, and get the kids in the car.  My husband was running the 10k and C the kiddie race so this is the first race of the three where we all left the house together.  I was rushed and didn’t to spend any time with my foam roller which stressed me out.

We dropped the munchkins off at my in-law’s house and we were on our way.  The parking was easy and the restrooms were close so when we arrived at about 7:15 we had plenty of time to use the restroom and make our way to the start line… which was on the Noblesville High School football field!

I found the 1:45 and 1:55 pacers and lined up between them.  The last two half marathons I ran, I did a 1:49 and wanted to break that time, but I was not feeling confident.  I had only gotten in three short runs since my last half marathon two weeks prior.

The race began and I felt great from the start.  The first mile ran down one of the brick roads and around the Noblesville square.  There is something nostalgic about running in the place that has become your town, the place where we have chosen to raise our children (for now).  After mile one, I looked down at my watch and realized I was right on pace so I would hold that pace.

At mile 1 my husband also caught up to me and we ran the next mile and a half together before the 10k course split off.  It was great to run with him through Forest Park and a similar route that we run together often in our training runs.

After we split off, I was by myself for awhile and really enjoy the run.  It was relaxing, not crowed and great to just take in my town.  I ran past the baseball fields and immediately thought that some day we might have a little guy playing on those fields.  At about mile 4 I met a woman who had an 18 month old and it was her first half since having him.  We ran together for quite some time and it was nice to have someone to chat with.  I also saw one of my running friends cheering on the runners through her neighborhood.

I hit mile 6 and realized that mile marker was off and there was no way I ran a 5 minute mile from mile 5 to mile 6, but that was okay because we are about to come up to the lake.  There is something about just being by the water that is my “happy place”.  My favorite part of this race was running by the water and it was the perfect timing because once we descended from the lake it was mile 7 and I knew I was halfway done.

Miles 7-10 went by quickly and I was still feeling great.  Once I hit mile 10 I said to myself, “just a 5k to go, it is time to pick it up,” and then I couldn’t.  Mile 10-12 seem to be my hard spot.  I wanted to pick up the pace but my legs won’t let me.

Once I hit mile 12 I was ready to kick it in gear and I ran the last 1.1 miles in under 7:30.  I entered the football field and immediately saw my husband, kids, and in-laws cheering me on- it was great!  Until I missed the turn to the finish line and ran a little out of my way, but that is okay.  I still crossed the finish line in 1:47:41 and knocked off a minute and 49 seconds off my last half marathon time.

(Yes, this is pretty par for the course these days when it comes to family pictures.)

I immediately found my family and got ready for the best part of the event… the Kiddie Race!  C was participating in her first race. I love events that promote kids fitness as well and the Noblesville Half Marathon did a great job with the Kiddie Race.  All the kids got footballs and were to run down to the pylon and back with their footballs.  I am pretty sure she was the littlest to do it, but she did it!

Overall this race was wonderful!  Besides mile 6 being wrongly marked marked the course was awesome.  Getting to see the awesome spots of my town was a huge plus.  As a seasoned runner, I loved the smallness of the race.  There were times during the race where there was no one cheering you on and I didn’t even see another runner for a couple minutes and I actually enjoyed that.  If this would have been one of my first half marathons, I would not have liked that.

I will be doing this race again next year and we will make it a family affair once again.  Well done, Noblesville!

Your turn- tell me!
How did you stay active over the holiday weekend?
Do you prefer larger or smaller races?