Race #53 – Run for Green Half Marathon – Davidson NC – 09/19/09


It was my second half marathon in two weeks, which qualifies me for the “Half Fanatics.” On the downside, I wasn’t quite as perky as in last week’s half marathon in Asheville. In my mind before the race, Davidson seemed like it would be nice and flat, relatively speaking. In reality, not so much. There were plenty of hills to go around, but everybody in the half marathon had to run the same course as me, so no complaints, and I did manage to finish 1st in my age group with a time of 1:40:07 (7:39 pace), which was just 21 seconds slower than last week’s finish.
Race pace is something I need to work on in the coming year. As you can see from my mile splits (below), I tend to start out too fast then progressively slow down throughout the race. I once again reverted to the Galloway run-walk-run, only slightly less than last week, taking a total of fifteen 20-second walk breaks. Ouch! I need to work on that. You can see a generally slower trend mile-by-mile in my pace as I took more walk breaks and generally slowed down.
The race route wound its way through some of the beautiful neighborhoods of Davidson as well as a good portion of the greenway, and was held in conjunction with the Davidson Lands Conservancy Green Day exhibition that featured green products and services as well as live music afterwards.
In addition to the half marathon there was also a 5k and 10k race, and the age group awards this time around were gift certificates for Omega Sports, one of the race sponsors.
Race Rating
6 – 1-10 Website (Information, results, registration, photo links, etc.)
6 – 1-10 Awards (Quality of medals, trophies, etc.) (1 to 10)
6 – 1-10 Awards Presentation (PA system, winning times, etc.) (1 to 10)
3 – 1-10 Food for Race Participants (1 to 10)
4 – 1-10 T-Shirts (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
4 – 4/6 Part of Race Series (Grand Prix, etc.) (6=Yes and 4=No)
5 – 0/5 Professional Photography (5=Yes and 0=No)
6 – 4/6 Chip Timing (6=Yes and 4=No)
7 – 3/7 Certified Course (by USA Track & Field) (7=Yes and 3=No)
8 – 1-10 Course (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
4 – 1-10 Parking (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
7 – 1-10 Entertainment (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
7 – 3/7 Age Groups (7 if 5-year groups; 3 if 10-year groups)
0 – 0/5 Indoor Shelter from Elements (0 if none; 5 if provided)
6 – 1-10 Bathroom Facilities
0-10 Other
TOTAL – 79

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