Drag-N-Fly Half Marathon Race Report
The day started at 5am when our alarms went off. Morgan (who had been “carbo-loading” for the week prior) had oatmeal. Avery had tomato bread, and egg, and some cheese. They had laid out all their half marathon stuff out ahead of time. Morgan had a new running backpack. This was because their first race was a relay and they shared a backpack. Now that they would both be running at the same time, they needed two backpacks. He filled his backpack up with CrampKiller gummies and Liquid IV in his water bladder. Avery had a new running visor and gaiters for her trail runners.
They had intended on dropping Rusty off for the day, but didn’t have time because Morgan couldn’t find his knee brace. (It ended up being in his room the whole time). Luckily, their roommate (who coincidentally was going to the same race in the 5k division) said she would be back earlier to let him out. So, they were on the road around 6:15 AM.
On the road they got hyped for the race by listening to the Fishing Playlist. They also talked about how hot it was going to be in Antioch (up to 96 degrees that day). Avery also admitted to being nervous about the race since she did 0 training and had never run 13 miles EVER in her whole life.
They got to the park at 7:30 just in time to hear the hiker division of the half marathon begin. They got their bibs numbered 760 and 805 and their shirts. They used the walk back to the car as a warmup. Avery didn’t make it all the way back to the car- tired already?! Then it was time to start the race!
Avery and Morgan lined up at the end of line for starting the race. The race director got on the megaphone and began giving out some pre-race instructions. He asked if anyone was a first time half marathoner. Morgan raised his hand and Avery said “Me!”. They were the only ones. The crowd seemed initially surprised that there were newbies and then the runners around them assured them they would be fine. The race director continued, saying that the race was going to be 13.5 miles (wait I thought it was 13.1!!), but that it would feel more like 16 or 17 due to the heat and elevation gain. In addition to being a half marathon, this was going to be an ultra half marathon. Great. Maybe this was not the best choice for their first half marathon. Avery was feeling intimidated. She was standing next to two ladies in their 70s. Avery thought she should try to keep up with them.
The race director sounded the airhorn and they were off! Avery did not sprain her ankle on the 100 yd line this race. Morgan decided he would run with Avery for the first 1 mile of the race and then leave her in the dust!!
Mile 1 split 13:10.4
Mile 2 split 13:39.1
Mile 3-4 The BIG hill
Avery walked this hill. Morgan also walked this hill. It was very steep and very hot (70F) even though it was only 8AM. There was no shade for the whole hill. On the way down the hill Avery was flying! It was in the shade. She was able to keep up with the first of the 70 ladies. The other 70 lady was farther back and Avery didn’t see her again until the end of the race.
Mile 3 split 20:01.1 – UPHILL
Mile 4 split 11:12.1 – DOWNHILL!!
Mile 5 split 20:02.6 – More uphill
Mile 6-8
Avery was feeling pretty good around mile 6. She was almost at halfway and was at about 90 minutes run time. Since the beginning half is more uphill than downhill, she thought she might be faster on the second half and finish under 3 hours! She was thinking that Morgan might even finish under 2 hours.
At this point, she was starting to pass people on the hiking and downhill rock running portions. Since so much of the trail was hiking, it turns out she had trained (by backpacking) after all. No 25 lb pack was a big relief!!
Morgan started feeling some “twinges” around mile 7/8.
Mile 6 split 12:53.2
Mile 7 split 23:53.2 – yikes this must have been the uphill hiking portion
Mile 8 split 14:05.8 – running back down the rocks and stairs
Mile 9-11 – The Wall
Race got much harder around mile 9. Avery felt like her foot glide (chapstick for feet?) had worn off and she was getting a blister. Finishing under 3 hours was long gone.
Despite eating all of his CrampKillers, Morgan still got cramps at mile 9. He had to walk the Big Hill at mile 11.
Mile 9 split 12:05.9
Mile 10 split 17:25.5 – uphill again?! I thought this was the easy half!
Mile 11 split 18:46.1 – uphill and getting really tired
Miles 12-14 – The Agonizing Finish
Mile 12 was the downhill of the Big Hill. Normally Avery would fly down this hill, but she was too tired to fly. She even had to walk a small section of the downhill! Ironically, this was her fastest split (although at the time it didn’t feel like it AT ALL).
Mile 13 was pretty easy running mostly flat or slightly uphill. By this time it was approaching 89 deg F. So this section was incredibly painful. Avery had to walk a lot of this section.
By the end of the race, Morgan could barely run. He ended up hobbling over the finish line. Somebody asked if he was OK. He was. Kind of.
The last push Avery couldn’t even run 20 ft without having to walk. She wanted to finish strong and appear like she had run the whole thing when Morgan saw her at the finish line. The very last 100 ft, another woman caught up to Avery and was trying to cheer her on. Avery had a flash of competitiveness and wanted very badly to finish before this woman. The woman was running SO slow, but Avery was only able to run EVEN SLOWER. In the end she had to give it up, but the race was finally over!
Mile 12 split 11:19.5
Mile 13 split 17:12.6
Mile 14 (not completed) – 11:44.8
Total average pace: 15:37 per mile
Final Times and Medalling!
Minutes after Avery finished, they got a text from their friend Katy with their race results! Katy had been looking for when the race would finish to find out when Avery and Morgan would be coming home to have a pool party. Good fortune would have it, that just as she looked at the race results, she saw that Morgan had actually already finished already with a time of 3:01.54. She then checked and found Avery had finished 83/84 runners with a time of 3:36.27. Since only 84 runners had finished at that time, it means she checked about a minute after Avery finished the race!
Morgan had a good time, so he was excited to look at the race results. It turned out that he had gotten 3rd in the 30-34 year old division!! He got an extra medal, and when he got home, he hung both on his door so that everyone in the house would know that he was a medaller. He also said he would need to run another half marathon to “defend his title”.
Avery finished 4/5 in her age category. The lady who gave Morgan his medal said not to feel too bad because it is a very competitive division. Avery did not feel bad at all. She was just happy to finish!
