stachedwalker’s BodyBlog

Or otherwise known as "Ah … Phoenix" … ‘cuz the 1/2 is done in Jan.  I’ve been in Phoenix in July and then it’s definitely "Argh!! Phoenix!!!".

But the weather was Mahvulous!!  Lows were in the lower 50s at night, and highs in the middles 70s … no clouds in the sky.  In fact, Saturday i stepped out side to see what the temp was like at about 7am, as that’s when I would be at the starting line.  I was fine in a T-shirt.  I had been considering what light jacket to wear … or long sleeve tech shirt to wear during the race.  I ended up going for the lightest thing that I could find that I brought with me.   Strangely enough, it was the exact thing I wore last year for the 1/2 in Arizona.  LOL

The race began promptly at 8:30 …. and it took me until about 9:10 to get to the starting line.  Yes, it seemed to take forever to get to the start.  Well, when you’ve got 23000 1/2 marathoners it’s gonna take a while.  Besides the do wave starts …. I was in corral #18 and I saw it go up to 26 at least!   We’re talking endless miles of humanity in front and behind.

This year I did train more towards the end of the year than I did last year.   My problem this year was length of runs/walks and it showed … but more on that.  The first 9 miles of the course are flat ..flat .. flat!!!.   There’s no reason to do as fast of a 9 miles as you possibly can here.  The only problem (really) is the congestion getting water.  With so many folks on the course you’re getting cut off and slowing down because of people jumping in front of you to get to the water & cytomax.  Also, the ground is very wet at these water stations and you actually slip and slide there … so you need to go slower and be more careful.  At about mile 9-10, you start a small uphill.  It’s not bad but this year we ran into quite a stiff breeze at this point that lasted until the finish.  My times showed this.  At mile #10 I was 12 minutes of head of my time from the previous year.  By the time I crossed the finish line I had slowed down to only 5 minutes faster.  Still a lot better (2 hours, 46 minutes and change), but if I had been in better shape due to long walks and w/o a breeze I could have definitely done a whole lot better.   But I’m still happy with my results … and improvement.   Some day I’m going to do a half in under 2:30