Race #77 – Germantown Half Marathon – Memphis, TN – 03/21/10


The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful as our plane touched down in sunny Memphis on Friday morning. We were able to check in to our hotel early and went for a memorable 5-mile run along the Mississippi River.  On Saturday the temperature climbed up into the lower 70s and we spent the day mostly just enjoying our long weekend in Memphis, basking in the beautiful spring sunshine and anticipating the upcoming race on Sunday morning.
Despite the beautiful weather on Friday and Saturday though, the weather outlook for Sunday wasn’t quite as positive. The same storm that was dumping snow on Oklahoma and Texas was heading our way, with almost no chance that it could miss us. Sure enough, the rain began early Sunday morning and while the temperature starting out at around 50 degrees, by the end of the race it was closer to 40 degrees with the wind howling and the rain coming down in buckets. For a good portion of the first part of the race the wind and rain came from behind, but when we changed directions at about the 7-mile mark in the race, heading back towards the Germantown Athletic Club, the 10- to 20-mile-per-hour wind was magnified by the cold rain meeting us head-on, and I began to question the sanity of runners in general, and me in particular.
But this was a big race for me. It was the Southern Half Marathon Championship for the RoadRunners Clubs of America, but more importantly for me, it was the 8th race in the 9-race Running Journal Grand Prix series. All runners who ran this race and also the Little Rock Half Marathon two weeks ago would receive double points for their best finish. Currently I’m in first place in the 55-59 age division. Our friend Jerry Sofley, also from Gastonia, made the trip with us and is currently in first place in the 60-64 age division. In Memphis we met up with another friend we’ve gotten to know from the Grand Prix, Don Vining, from Georgia, who currently has a commanding lead in the Grand Prix in the 65-69 age group. I’m happy to say that things worked out for all three of us — Don and I both finished 1st in our age group and Jerry finished 2nd, giving us all a big lead going into the last race on Memorial Day Weekend, the Cotton Row Run in Huntsville, Alabama. In addition, my wife Linda finished 1st out of 11 runners in her age group in the 5k, and Don’s girlfriend finished 1st in her age group as well.
I was happy with my final time of 1:35:53. It wasn’t my fastest half marathon ever, but certainly not my slowest either. It definitely provided me with a little more data in figuring out my heart rate training. Since I began monitoring my heart rate during races I had been able to maintain a heart rate of 166 beats per minute throughout all of my races, no matter what distance (5k, 10k, half marathon) except in last month’s Valentine Run in Black Mountain, where I was never able to climb to 166 bpm. It happened again in this race. When I reached about 163 bpm it seemed to be all the gas I had, so instead of pushing it I decided to just stay at the more comfortable slower heart rate. When I checked my Garmin after the race I had averaged 162 throughout the race instead of the usual 166.
From the race logo I had expected Germantown to be in a rural setting with lots of farms and horses, but from what I saw it’s more of a busy suburb of Memphis filled with expensive homes, lots of shopping, and wide streets that are great for running. Jerry and I drove most of the course on Saturday and it was really a beautiful area. On Sunday, of course, with the miserable weather it was hard to appreciate it as much, but maybe we’ll make it back next year for an encore in hopefully better weather.
Race Rating
8 – 1-10  Website (Information, results, registration, photo links, etc.)
8 – 1-10  Awards (Quality of medals, trophies, etc.) (1 to 10) ($6,000+ in prize money)
8 – 1-10  Awards Presentation (PA system, winning times, etc.) (1 to 10)
7 – 1-10  Food for Race Participants (1 to 10) (Brunswick Stew, etc.)
8 – 1-10  T-Shirts (1 to 10 with 5 being average) (Brooks Tech short-sleeve)
6 – 4/6   Part of Race Series (Grand Prix, etc.) (6=Yes and 4=No) (Running Journal GP)
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)
7 – 1-10  Parking (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
6 – 1-10  Entertainment (1 to 10 with 5 being average)
10 – 0-10  Age Groups (10 if 5-year groups; 0 if 10-year groups)
5 – 0/5   Indoor Shelter from Elements (0 if none; 5 if provided)
7  - 1-10  Bathroom Facilities
0-10  Other
TOTAL – 106

Comments

Post a Comment

Recent Popular Posts

Race #566 - Run the South Half Marathon - Charlotte NC - 06/29/24

Image
Touted as the "Hottest Half Here," the Run the South Half Marathon lived up to its billing this year. The temperature at the beginning of the race wasn't unbearable at 77 degrees, and even the humidity wasn't 100% (it was 88% according to the weather app). I think maybe the culprit was the dew point, although I don't know what it was. I do know that I was sticky and sweaty before the race and didn't even do a warmup.  I'm not sure I've explained how I use the Jeff Galloway Run Walk Run technique. I keep my watch set to alert me every 20 seconds, so I can run 20 seconds then walk 20 seconds, and that's how I do most of my training. In races, I run however many 20-second intervals I'm comfortable with and then just walk 20 seconds in between, so I may run three 20-second intervals (1 minute) or six 20-second intervals (2 minutes) then walk 20 seconds before running again. I just go by what feels right at the time, so if I'm going downhill I m...
Read more

Race #570 - Asheville Half Marathon - Asheville, NC - 08/24/24

Image
This was my 14th half marathon this year, in a year that I'm hoping to run 20+. Unfortunately, as I write this a week after the race, I'm not feeling as gung-ho as I did when the year began. I'm already thinking of how miserable the cold weather races will feel, thus making it easy for me to back out in less-than-ideal weather conditions.  This was the first half marathon I ran on the comeback trail a year ago, but it was before I restarted the blog, so I only have my Garmin Connect and Strava data to help me remember it. I finished last year's race in 2:06:49, and this year, I was a little slower at 2:09:29, but I did finish 1st in the 70-74 age group this year as opposed to 2nd last year. The stat that stood out most to me is that this race had 913 finishers last year and only 503 this year! It's one of three half marathons that begin at Pack Square, and it's the only one of the three that also ends there. The other two end down along the river, so you don...
Read more

Race #111 – Southpark Turkey Trot – Charlotte, NC – 11/25/10

Image
The 22nd annual Charlotte Southpark Turkey Trot had 4300 finishers in the 8k race on Thanksgiving day. Add to that those involved with the 5k walk, the 1-mile fun run, and the tot trot, and this is easily one of Charlotte’s largest road racing events of the year, second only to Thunder Road. This is the 4th race in the 10-race season of the Running Journal Grand Prix series and is one of the three RJ Grand Prix races in North Carolina, with the others being the Charlotte RaceFest 10k and the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon. The other races in the series are in South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida, so it’s nice to try to pick up some points without leaving the area. Linda and I enjoyed traveling around to most of the different races last year and are planning to run most of the remaining races this year as well. Last year I felt great, never had even a hint of an injury, and knew no fear. This year is a different story. I’m generally not running as well, probably due t...
Read more

Race #564 - RAD Half Marathon - Asheville NC - 06/09/24

Image
Back during the years when I was doing my best running (2009-2017), the half marathon was my favorite race distance. During those years, I ran as many as 16 half marathons per year, and on an age-graded basis, the half marathon was my best distance. In more recent years I had trouble running long distances, so I cut the number of half marathons down and almost quit running them entirely. When my streak of 120 half marathons in a row under 2 hours ended in September 2022, I considered never running another half. It wasn't so much that finishing in over 2 hours was shameful, but I began having difficulty running the distance.  I turned 71 in February 2023 and had only run two 5k races after the previously mentioned September half marathon. Not being a cold weather runner anyway, I waited until April of 2023 to run another 5k, and by then my 5k times were slower than ever. I wasn't enjoying the races any longer, and when I began having a hard time keeping up with my younger runnin...
Read more

Race #571 - Eastbound Trail Half Marathon - Charlotte, NC - 09/07/24

Image
Lord knows I'm not a trail runner, although I've been trying to impersonate one for the last few months. In July, I ran the Harbison Trail Half Marathon, the first singletrack trail half marathon I've ever run. In retrospect, I kind of enjoyed it even though I was slow and spent most of the time just trying not to trip over a rock or a tree root. I did the same thing in this race; just hoping I didn't trip and break an ankle or do a faceplant. Luckily, I came out unscathed and didn't fall or twist anything that shouldn't be twisted.  The U.S. National Whitewater Center is about a 15-minute drive from my house. It has 50+ miles of trails, but I haven't been there in over 10 years because trails have never appealed to me. This week, they had the only half marathon within 100 miles, and since I'm trying to run every half marathon I can reasonably get to this year, I figured I'd give it a go.  From what I've heard, the trail races at the Whitewater C...
Read more