Race Result

Racer:	Shawn Clark
Race:	P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona
Date:	Sunday, January 14, 2007
Location:	Phoenix, AZ
Race Type:	Run - Half Marathon
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	1:55:52
Overall Place:	3373 / 20245
Age Group Place:	340
Comment:	A Cold but Fun Run in the Valley of the Sun

Race Report:

I will keep this report quick. This past weekend I finished my first Half Marathon in Phoenix. The PF Chang's Rock and Roll Arizona.

We all arrived a few days before the race as we were actually in town to visit friends not to race but couldn't pass up the opportunity to run in such a big race. Since we were there for fun the pre race nutrition was various beers and pizzas with extra water thrown in.

My wife Julie, my friends Jon and Shana, and woke up the day of the race tired but determined. We dressed in several layers (28 degrees outside), fired down a cup of coffee, grabbed a breakfast bar and hopped in the car. The packet said arrive early and allow 30 minutes for the shuttle. We parked and got in line for the buses an hour before the race was to begin and ended up getting to the race after my assigned group was already running. I guess next year both the runners and the race organizers will have to do a better job of planning.

Since my group had already left I figured I would just enjoy the day and run with my friend Jon who hadn't really trained much on running but is an avid swimmer and cross country skiier. So for him it was going to be tough mentally aerobically not too bad.

We took off with a goal of 9:00 miles and I kept close eye on my watch to make sure we didn't kill ourselves starting out. We managed to hold just below 9 for most of the race with a push toward the end to bring us in under our goal making us both extremely happy especially since we started so far back and spent a good chunk of our race running side to side, trying to find an opening we could shoot threw. Not to mention nearly stopping every time we came near a timing mat since the the bottle-neck caused a traffic pile-up like I-66 at rush hour near exit 68 heading toward arlington. (grrrr).

I was worried about my ITB issues but thanks to some great advice from all of you and some work and advice from Dr. Su I was able to run pain free and wake up in the morning pain free.

Anyway all in all I am very happy with the race and other than the shuttle, which I hope they resolve, and the cold, which wasn't really their fault, it was a great experience, one I would definately do again.