2012 Richmond Marathon & Half-Marathon

November 10, 2012 7:30 AM
Richmond, Virginia

	Time	Pace	Division	Division Place	Gender Place	Overall Place	Bib #
Owen (Full)	3:48:08	8:42	M35-39	128/385	864/2580	1184/4716	553
Torre (Half)	2:01:19	9:15	M45-49	169/322	1355/2539	2544/6855	13283
Malissa (Half)	2:50:13	12:59	F30-34	636/699	3869/4316	6289/6855	16031

Written by Owen:

This race is a little over an hour away from my mom's house.  We talked Gramps (my step-dad) into running the half-marathon, which Malissa was also running.  We met them at the hotel Friday before the Saturday morning race.

I like to do as little driving as possible at my marathons, probably because we always do so much driving to get to them.  But I hate parking, traffic, etc.  So we walked about a half-mile to catch the shuttle to the expo.

Grandma and Gramps with his bib.

 After the expo, we walked to a really nice restaurant, but there was an hour long wait.  That's was OK with me, we sat outside and the time flew as we chatted.

I love my mommy!

Malissa and Torre

After the restaurant, we hung out back at the hotel, then got ready for the next morning.  Our hotel was a half-mile from the start, which wasn't until 7:45 for the half; 8:00 for the full.  It was pretty nice getting to sleep in later than normal for a marathon.

We walked to the starting line together (Grandma, Gramps, Me, Malissa, Michael, Kyle, and Alicia).  Gramps and Malissa were running the half, which started 30 minutes before the full.  Grandma's job was to be the head cheerleader.  Because of the way the half started at the same place but then skipped to the second half of the full, we never ran the same route near the same time.  So when I planned Grandma's cheering route, all I could make work was for her to see everyone start, everyone finish, and me once at mile 17.

The race started and it was pretty cold.  I had worn a throw away hat, sweater, and gloves.  I ditched those as the gun went off and took a couple of miles to get warm.  Because Malissa's wave didn't start until 7:50 or so, I caught up to her around the two mile mark, just before she went right and I went left.  That was a nice surprise.

The course was beautiful and I could not have scripted better weather.  It was low 40's for most of it until the very end when it warmed up to around 50°. The crowd support was amazing.

Seeing my mom, kids, and Torre (who had just finished the half) at mile 17 was a really good boost.  My plan was to run comfortably and try to finish around 3:35.  I was perfectly on pace until around mile 18 when it starting getting tougher.  Each mile after that was exponentially harder than the previous.  I haven't hit the wall that hard since Grandma's.

The last couple of miles I had to mix in some walking breaks, which is very unusual for me.  My finishing time of 3:48 was 13 minutes slower than goal, but still very acceptable.  I have a pretty aggressive goal of finishing all 51 states/D.C. in under 4 hours on my first attempt, and I've done it so far.  I now am 9 for 9.

I saw my family just before the finish, so I ran over and gave them a five, and then finished another wonderful marathon.  I was hoping for some finish area pics with everyone, but Torre was in a hurry to get to the hotel so I don't have any of me with him after the race.  Below are what pictures I do have.  But first here's a video (I'm the one in the yellow Marathon Maniacs singlet that goes to give my family a five).

Here's my Garmin Data:

Written by Malissa:

I went into this race with hardly any training. I’ve been in a bit of a rut with my running lately. Owen told me it was ok to back out but I still wanted to race. I love racing just not the training. Plus it was Gramps’ (Owen’s step-dad) first half marathon and I was so excited for him!

I had zero nerves going into this race. One thing that has come from running my marathon and three halves is confidence. I now know that I can do it. It may not be my fastest race but I will finish. I also know that if I don’t train boy is it going to hurt but I was ready for the pain.  

The days leading up to the race Alicia was sick. Race morning I woke up with a sore throat and sneezing. I packed some cough drops along with my Gu in my spi-belt just in case. Another reason I was excited about this race was we had our kids make special encouraging tattoos for us to wear on race day. 

I also made one for myself that said I can do this. I wanted to have a reminder when the race got tough, that I can finish. When I’m struggling in a race I look at my watch a lot so I put the tattoo next to my watch so I would be reminded every single time I looked at it.

Going in to the race I was hoping to finish around 2:40 but would be happy with anything under 3 hrs. The race started and already in the first mile I was cursing myself for my lack of training. Around mile four I found my groove and was on pace to come in at my goal time. I enjoyed miles 5 and 6.

There were lots of fans with clever signs. I love a good laugh while I run. Some of my favorite were:

• In my eyes you all run like Kenyans
• I promise I won’t tell anyone you were crying
• Sometimes I fartlek when I run
• I got up really early to make this sign and it wasn’t easy.

My body started slowing down around mile 7 and at mile ten I decided to text Michael and tell him I was running a little behind. It was around that time that the lead marathon runner passed me. It was his mile 23 and he started after me! I am always amazed at how fast and graceful elite runners are. I found myself picking up my pace a little after that.

I talked to a few runners toward the end of the race. It was just what I needed to keep my mind off of the fact that my knees where killing. I also looked at my tattoos a lot. It was a great reminder that my kids were at the finish line waiting to cheer me home. It wasn’t too much longer before I got to the downhill. I was looking forward to this part because that meant the race was almost over! As I was running down the hill to the finish line I was looking for my kids, grandma, and gramps. The first place girl marathon winner was coming in at the same time so the cheering was so loud. I would be lying if I didn’t pretend that it was for me. At the last minute I saw my family cheering for me and I was so excited and overjoyed because that meant that I was done! My fourth half marathon was complete and I promised myself I would train for my next one.