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


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't have to climb back up the hills to the starting point! Despite the abundance of hills, I felt good, and my finishing time was among the best that I've had this year. 

My friend Chris usually does the Asheville races, and he's one of the few people I knew at this one. He's in the 60-64 age group and runs circles around me, although he's nice enough not to rub it in.

Race Name: Asheville Half Marathon

Location: Asheville, North Carolina

Date: August 24, 2024

Course:


Run-Walk Graph:

If you can see the graph closely, I only walked after the two-mile mark since most of the first two miles were downhill. After that, I mainly ran for two minutes and then walked for 20 seconds until the first big hill in the fourth mile. On big uphills like that, I usually run for 20 seconds and then walk for 20 seconds. The same goes for the uphill portion in mile 7 and the final two miles of the race.

Run-Walk Detection:


Mile Splits and Elevation:


Heart Rate:


Weather at Start:


Click Here for Race Results

Click Here for Race Photos


My Stats:

  • Time:  2:09:29
  • Pace:  9:53 (actual 10:01)
  • Age Group:  1 of 4
  • Overall:  263 of 503
  • Age Grade Percentage:  63.82% 


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