Yesterday I ran a half marathon in the Knoxville Marathon.
Pictures
And they’re off!
The herd lumbers up the hill.
Staggering into Neyland Stadium.
Waiting for the medical staff to carry me out.
Race Information
Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 1:58:32
Placement: 339/1,205
Trivia: Beat Mayor Haslem by 5 seconds
Overall, the marathon was a fun event. The weather conditions were close to ideal (it took mee less than five minutes to realize I should have gone without the sweatshirt). I don’t have much experience with these kind of events, but the race seemed to be pretty well organized and run, particularly for an inaugural event. The course was clear and there were ample volunteers along the route. Police took care of the traffic at intersections. Water stops seemed okay (though I only used one). The only negative thing for me was that they ran out of T-shirts in the size I had ordered.
In a few ways, my experience was a study in what not to do. Top five mistakes (in ascending order):
(5) Eating a bunch of junk food the night before
(4) Less than five hours of sleep beforehand
(3) Staring out a little too far in the pack (you’re boxed in for a while)
(2) Only two weeks of distance training
(1) Doing the last training run on Friday
Number 1 had the most direct impact on the race, for I felt my calf muscles a little throughout the run. I had intended to do my last run on Thursday, but it was wet that day. So I went on Friday. Not enough recovery time. Had I felt a little fresher and started out at a little faster pace, I might have shaved a few minutes off the time. For I generally felt good until the last couple miles, when my side started bothering me a bit.
One amusing thing I hadn’t anticipated was how, uh, overhydrated a few of the runners were. Within ten minutes of the start some of them were already peeling off to relieve themselves–in spots just a few feet from the course. Guess modesty takes a back seat to the clock on race day.
I don’t know if there will be another marathon next year, but if there is, I might give it another try. Who knows, I might get really crazy and go the full distance next time.
That’s nothing. I can drive it in about 10 minutes. 🙂
We were hoping you’d have a report and some photos.
We were downtown on other business and cris-crossed the route a couple of times. It was late and the runners were really spread out. Pretty amazing feat of logistics to have cops manning all those intersections and directing the flow of traffic v. runners with a minimum of disruption. I’m assuming all went well and there were not car v. runner incidents.
One thing we were thinking, though, is how embarrassing it would be to be one of the last few stragglers hours behind everyone else making all those cops stand around waiting for you to finish. Or was there a time limit or something?
Anyway, cool photos, and congratulations on finishing. A great accomplishment. I get exhausted just thinking about it.
Way to go!
Congratulations.
Glad to see Knoxville has finally made the committment to host a marathon. I hope they keep it up.
Houston has a marathon every year. They have done it long enough that the logistics are pretty well set. But it is still quite a chore to recruit all the support they need every year.
I’ll take the scenery in Knoville every time, though.
SKB: According to the website, the full marathon course was kept open for 6 hours; the half for 3.5 hours. Not sure what happened if you wanted to continue on the course after that expired. Perhaps you were simply on your own like on any other day.
Wordjunky: That was one of the things I noted–how many people must be involved involved to run a large operation like that. Kudos to the volunteers.
Congrats Brian..and under 2 hours too..that’s fantastic!
Usually, stragglers end up having to run on the sidewalk (or side of the road I guess in much of Knoxville).
I was on the Brew Pub Porch having Bloody Mary’s as the last few troopers ran up Gay Street. The guy following the truck that was picking up the cones get’s the determination award for saying “No way am I gonna let that thing beat me” and the Ultimate trooper award goes to the guy who was so far behind he had to ask us for directions. It takes serious dedication, far more than I have, to run a marathon in the first place but to finish even though it seems everyone else has given up on you takes more heart, and may be a bigger accomplishment, than any of the athletes among us will ever achieve.