Capital City Half Marathon Recap

A little more than six months after crossing my first marathon finish line in the capital of my home state, I returned to the city to take on my fourth half marathon.

Less than two weeks ago, I signed up for the Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus on a whim. I had the weekend off for other things, but decided I could squeeze in a half mary in the morning before going on with my plans for the rest of the day.

The roommate and I headed down the night before and stayed in the same hotel as we did for the marathon. The race didn’t start in the same place as the marathon (it started closer and an hour later, yay!), but did finish in the same spot.

This was the eighth year for the race. The race is a half marathon and 5K and this year, they added a quarter marathon as well. (6.55 miles).

The expo was pretty much like any other race expo you’ve been to. It was a little smaller than some of the ones I’ve been to (and apparently the ones I’ve been to are small compared to others). I had to have my corral switched (they made me slower than I am!). It was actually really easy. All I did was say “hey I’m in the wrong corral.” The girl asked which one I wanted, and put a sticker over the number.

Anyway, we headed down to the start about 45 minutes before the race started. I got to see the finish line and the finish line party on the way and honestly couldn’t wait to be back there again.

The roommate made me take a picture underneath my corral sign. I guess he was really proud I was in the second of like seven. And I got to show off my Hansons shorts I bought:

After a bunch of O-H cheers, the national anthem played by the saxophonist from O.A.R. and some a-hole guys behind me complaining about the wave start, about 12,000 of us were off on a pretty sunny, warm enough morning.

I didn’t really have much of a plan or strategy going into the race. I glanced at the elevation chart on the site before and didn’t really care much. Columbus is like Cleveland. Very flat, but with a few “hills” in there. I put myself between the 1:50 and 2:00 pacers, knowing I’d come in somewhere around there.

The plan I should’ve gone with needed to be to relax and take it easy and become progressively faster, like I’ve been doing on my long runs. Instead, I went out to fast and ran the first miles in like 8:15 and 8:30 or something. I was able to settle into an 8:45ish pace for a while and really tried to stick to it.

But around mile 4, I was starting to realize just how dehydrated I was. I started stopping at every water stop (which were pretty much a quarter-mile away from every mile marker). I started to focus on just finishing and having fun. At one point between mile 4 and 8 (I really don’t remember when), I decided that I’m in the city where I ran my first full, which was a huge turning point in my running life, and I should enjoy it. It’s not every day I get the opportunity to run a half marathon in such an awesome place, so why drag on the miles like I don’t want to be there?

I ended up paying more attention to the crowds and the signs and listening to what the people were saying. I always wish I had a camera with me (even though it bothers me that people run with cameras) to take pictures of some of the awesome signs along the way. There were several signs with pictures of Charlie Sheen or that had some reference to “duh, winning.” My favorites were the lululemon team’s signs, like “keep going, keep going, keep going (that’s what she said)” and one someone had in the Short North that said “Runners have big balls, other sports just play with them.”

I’ll admit now, after about mile 8, the course was tough. I had a hard time kind of getting through at some points, but the toughest was definitely the last straightaway before turning onto Nationwide and hitting a fast downhill to the finish line. The street goes uphill and at that point, I had very little steam left. But the Columbus crowds are amazing and knowing that I was going to turn a corner and finish in that same place again kept me going.

I crossed the line in 1:57:08 (I mistakenly tweeted that it was a few seconds earlier. Turns out, I can’t read). Not a PR, but it was my second best half marathon time of the four I’ve run.

Unfortunately, my roommate didn’t see me finish. He couldn’t get close enough to the side of the street and I went to the opposite side of the street toward the finish line party. I looked around for him for a while, cheered on a bunch of runners and eventually found an MIT volunteer and asked for her phone. So here’s me post race in the hotel:

That’s the biggest and best medal I’ve ever received. Of all of them, I’m most proud of the ones I’ve received in Columbus. Though I didn’t PR, it really hit me that I don’t have to do so every single race. I’ve known for a while that I’m lucky I get to run every single day and there’s no need to beat myself up for not doing as well I think I can. If I put in the hard work, I’ll be rewarded. And as long as I’m having fun, then every step is worth it.

Now it’s only less than one week until my next 13.1!