Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon - Race Report

What a great race! It rained near the end, and we didn't get to enjoy the post-race activities, but it was a wonderful time nonetheless.

We got to the race around 7:00. It wasn't as cold as we expected (about 55 degrees at race start), but the wind was strong. We waited inside the convention center with Casey and some of her friends before heading out to the start.

I was supposed to be in Corral 1, but the 1:52 pace group was in Corral 2 and the 2:00 pace group was in Corral 3, so I positioned myself between them. We watched Corral 1 begin, waited at the starting line, and then took off.

You can see the 1:52 pace group just ahead of me.

Here's how the race went, mile-by-mile.

Mile 1 - 8:27. "DAVID YOU DUMB SHIT, THIS IS TOO FAST." My heart rate immediately shot up into the 170s, and I was hoping to keep it in the 150s for the first mile. I felt great, but knew going out too hard would be a bad idea. It was tough to slow down though because of all the people crammed together.

Mile 2 - 9:04. Much better pace. My heart rate was still in the high 170s though, and I didn't want to slow down any further, so at the first water station I dumped cold water down my back (but I didn't stop to walk). The water helped bring me down a bit, but not enough. It stayed in the 170s for the entire race (until the end).

Mile 3 - 9:02. This pace felt perfect and natural. I didn't look at my Runkeeper the entire mile.

Mile 4 - 9:09. I slowed down and walked for about 8 seconds in the water station to drink some gatorade, but the time was still where I wanted it to be. The inner part of my left thigh was feeling a little strange, but not enough to bother me.

Mile 5 - 8:46. This part of the course went through downtown Hampton, and I was "that guy" who ran along the sides and high-fived all the spectators that were watching. You can't just slowly jog by and high-five someone either; your body naturally speeds up in excitement. So I blame that for the speedy pace. I took my first gel pack before one of the water stops during this mile.

Mile 6 - 9:02. Back on track. It was nice to have a few fast miles banked away in case I cramped or had to stop to pee. Shortly after this I hit the 10K sign, and snapped a photo of my watch:

Heart rate at 174.

I also hit the halfway mark at 58:30. Knowing I had a 90 second cushion took a lot of the pressure off.

Mile 7 - 8:57. This part of the course was in some Hampton neighborhoods, and a lot of people were sitting outside their houses watching the runners. Around this time the inside of my left thigh started bothering me again... not really pain, but just some discomfort.

Mile 8 - 9:02. This was the first of two miles along the James river, and I was terrified that the wind would be strong, but there was less wind here than in downtown Hampton. Beautiful view along the way too. It was easy to comfortably cruise along.

Mile 9 - 9:17. "Okay, let's not get TOO comfortable with our cushion." I guess my only explanation for this was that I took some extra time walking through the water station to eat my second gel pack, which was a nasty "Jet Blackberry" flavor that tasted horribly. It still hadn't rained yet so I dumped more water down my back to keep my heart rate from drifting up.

At this part of the race I heard a funny conversation from two guys ahead of me:

Guy 1: "What's your goal for this again, Bob?"
Bob: "I'm just aiming for about 2 hours, since this is part of my taper for Ironman."
Guy 1: "I fucking hate you, Bob."

They laughed and seemed to speed away from me, so I didn't have a chance to run up and ask Bob which Ironman he was doing, but based on the Calendar it's either Kona next weekend or Florida next month.

Mile 10 - 9:06. Still feeling good. In the space of a few minutes the temperature dropped by at least 10 degrees and the wind picked up, signaling that the storm was almost here. I had originally planned on picking up the pace at this point to finish the last 5K strong, but I was feeling too conservative to kick it up a notch. I had a 2 hour half marathon in the bag, and I didn't want to screw that up. Also, my feet were starting to hurt a bit, something that has never happened to me on long runs.

Mile 11 - 9:14. This mile was tough: running into the wind most of the way, and my feet were starting to ache pretty badly. It was obvious that picking up the pace wasn't an option, and I would have to "settle" for a time just under 2 hours. I was fine with that.

Mile 12 - 9:11. The end of this mile was uphill on the overpass above I-64, and it started POURING right before then. My entire body, especially my shoes and socks, were completely soaked after only 30 seconds of rain. To top it off, the Mile 12 marker didn't match up with what my GPS said; I thought I still had at least one minute of cushion, but my time at the mile marker made it more like 15 seconds. Oh shit.

Mile 13 - 9:01. I'm surprised this mile wasn't faster. I sped up after passing the Mile 12 marker, and ran most of this with a heart rate in the 180s, topping out at 195 near the end. I was soaked but felt great, and cruised into the finish at a near sprint.

1:59:28 Final Time
9:07 average pace

741 out of 2270 overall
479 out of 968 males
72 out of 112 in the M25-29 age group

Much closer than I originally thought, but I played it pretty conservative for the second half and still made my goal time. 20 seconds after I finished my right calf and foot seized up in horrible cramps, so I limped over to a cement boulder to sit on.

I met up with Wiley and we went inside the convention center to warm up. I told Wiley that we had maybe 20-30 minutes before Bre finished, but I pulled out my iPhone and used the Find My Friends app to see Bre's exact location. She was already in the last mile! We quickly ran back to the finish line and saw her finish a few minutes later.

She got a 2:49:30, which crushed her PR by over 21 minutes! Overall it was a pretty good race day for the Kirby household, though the rain kept us from enjoying the free post race beer and food.

We ran home, took a hot shower (Bre) and bath (me), and ate pizza while watching football for the rest of the day. I'll post some of the official race photos when they're available online.