Monster Mash Half Marathon - Race Report!

After my major training slump this spring/summer, I made a promise to myself. I would be in shape enough to run a half marathon every year for as long as I could. Although I've run a marathon this year, I still wanted to make sure that I added a half marathon to schedule. I know myself, I know that if I start making exceptions by saying "oh well this marathon counts..." I'll start bending rules in other ways.

Since we just moved to the greater Philly/Delaware/Maryland/Jersey area, I wanted to find a local race to do up here. Timing worked out pretty well for doing the Monster Mash half marathon in Dover, DE. It supports the Wounded Warrior Project, which I would really love to support. Also, the race has sort of a Halloween-vibe, which seemed kind of fun.

Our race report begins not the weekend of the actual race (Oct. 17), but the Saturday before. I'm not exactly sure how I got the weekends mixed up, but I was up at 4:00 on Oct. 11 with my shoes laced up, my gels packed with my water bottle, my watch was all charged, and I was pumped and ready to go. I opened my computer to make sure I had the right address to plug into my GPS, aaaaaaand the date on the website said Oct. 17. "At least I figured it out before I got in the car", I said to myself, and promptly went back to bed in my running clothes.

OK - fast forward to Oct. 17. My husband woke up and made my breakfast (apple cinnamon oatmeal) and coffee, and filled my water bottle up (he's a nice guy :) ). The weather was pretty chilly, so I packed an extra long-sleeved layer just in case.  I made the drive to Dover, and finally arrived at the Speedway, and was greeted by Miles the Monster!

Miles the Monster at the Dover Speedway

When I got out of my car and went to packet pickup, there was a great music selection playing. I heard the obligatory Halloween staples, Thriller and Monster Mash, and a lot of great classic rock. It really created a vibe that was exciting, without being intimidating or too intense. It was a good place to mingle. I've never been able to chat so easily with fellow runners leading up to a race. There were some incredibly seasoned runners, some ultra runners, some people like me who have done a handful of races like this, as well as some total newbies. When we were starting to fill the starting chute, I was talking to a woman who has run several hundred milers, and was running the marathon to go towards her "50 marathons in 50 states" challenge! It was so cool to hear from her what her favorite races were, and which ones were still on her bucket list.

Oh... that reminds me.... the start! The race (both the half and the full) started on the actual racetrack.

It was so awesome. We could see the sky gradually change color as the sun rose, and it was beautiful.

Before we knew it, we heard the starting buzzer. The first mile was a lap around the Dover Speedway. The sun was just coming up, and a beautiful sunrise was visible over the stands as we ran. There was so much to look at, it made the first mile go by really quickly! After we left the speedway, it wasn't long before we were out in the city of Dover, and we were running through some really beautiful neighborhoods. I had no idea that there were so many lovely, well maintained Victorian houses in that part of town. Shortly after, we went through Wesley College, which is a truly beautiful campus.

Then, out of the blue, we were in farm country! Around mile 6.5 the marathoners and half marathoners split, and we started to run through soybean country. I felt right at home. We hit this point around 8:10am, so the sunrise was truly beautiful. It was so peaceful. I felt energized. During the last half of the race, we gradually transitioned back into the town. At about mile 11, the speedway came into view! Then we ran over the overpass, through part of the parking lot, and zipped up to the finish line. Several people who are much faster than I had already finished, and actually stood along the course leading up to the finish and were cheering us on: "You're almost there!" "Looking good, finish strong!!" It was great.

My official time was 2:17:11. About 12 minutes slower than my PR, but it is almost 40 minutes faster than the last time I ran a half marathon as a training run! Not a PR, but I still felt really good after this race. I still felt strong. I had signed up for this race to help me regain some of my confidence, and it absolutely helped me do that.

So... half marathon for 2015: done!

Reese's Cups are my new favorite recovery food

This medal was enormous, and has moving parts. It's pretty sweet.

The only downside to this entire experience is that I have had a lot of pain on the outside of my right foot, which hasn't gone away since I got out of my car after the race. I'm not sure how that is going to impact my plans for the Richmond marathon in 3 weeks, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm just trying to make sure that my foot gets back to normal, so that I can have a little longevity in my "keep Catherine fit" running career. Even if I can't do the Richmond marathon, I can't say that I regret running this race. It had a really fun start/finish line, a good group of runners that made for a really fun environment, and it helped me regain a lot of my confidence. I needed this. I'm excited to come back next year!

Gear:
Oh also - this was my first race in my Topo Fli-lytes, they were definitely up to the job! I've gotten a lot of mileage out of those shoes so far, and I've been incredibly happy with them so far. I also used my Amphipod handheld, which I really like. It had plenty to keep me hydrated between aid stations, and had room for one or two gels (I only took one). I wore a Nike technical t-shirt, but the goodie bag contained a really really nice New Balance shirt which might be my new favorite running shirt.