Race Result

Racer:	Brad Payne
Race:	Rock and Roll Half Marathon - Va Beach
Date:	Sunday, September 1, 2002
Location:	Virginia Beach, VA
Race Type:	Run - Half Marathon
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	2:05:15
Overall Place:	3270 / 10982
Age Group Place:	363 / 739
Comment:	The Middle Age Comeback Begins...

Race Report:

[Written with three years of hindsight.}

It was my sister-in-law, Lori, who talked me into it. Although her training would eventually falter, I got off my fat butt and put together eight weeks of training I picked up from a Runner's World magazine. Once I could run 10 miles I joined the Reston Runners to give my training a boost. It was on these longer runs in which I learned that early pace needs to be moderate no matter how good you feel. Most of my experience was in shorter races, and when I was sixty pounds lighter, I was much, much faster. So it took some discipline to maintain a 9-10 minute mile pace in order to feel human in the later miles.

The race sold out months in advance and finding an available hotel room at Virginia Beach on Labor Day weekend was a challenge. The accomodations were not luxurious, but there was a bed and a roof. One of my wife's friends wanted to tag along since she had family in the area. She kept dragging us around town when all I wanted to do was take it easy. I've learned since then that I was being a ninny, but I didn't know that at the time.

Race check in was efficient and organized which was surprising given that there were over 10,000 athletes signed up. It was an uplifting and happy atmosphere as I recall. Virginia Beach is not my favorite vacation spot, but when it is flooded with thousands of runners rather than the riff raff that is normally associated with the beach, its actually not so bad. Of course, finding a pasta dinner the night before the race was a challenge. I ended up getting a take out order and ate in my room.

The race planners set up shuttles that ran along Atlantic Avenue to pick up runners and take them to the start. That was nice and saved me a two mile walk. Just before the race started, a freak storm dumped tons of rain on us, and then disappated. I figured I'd learn if those new synthetic socks I'd just bought in the last month would protect me from blisters. They did!

When the gun went off I forgot about being nervous. The crowd forced a slow early pace. I discovered a race phenomenon called Team in Training, easily identified by their purple t-shirts. They tended to run abreast and block the road. After 3-4 miles I managed to get past the slower ones and began to get serious about finishing.

The course is quite flat and is on asphalt for the first 11 miles. The crowd support, particuarly in the latter half of the race (Atlantic Ave) is amazing and helps forget about race discomfort. There were at least a dozen bands playing loudly in the early morning hours which was pretty cool too.

Then the race hits the concrete boardwalk, which was pretty rough on my legs. Due to the flat topography, I could see the finish line from more than a mile out, but it didn't seem like I was getting any closer. After passing the "12" mile marker I felt like I was trapped in Zeno's Paradox, but with persistence, I finally got there. The first thing handed to me, of all things, was a beer. Some recovery drink!

I would definitely love to return to his venue and try to improve my PR. In recent years I have found this race falls too close to Reston Triathlon to return. (I would learn later in September that a triathlon one week after a half marathon is not so smart.)