Capital City Half Marathon

Last week's weather was amazing. We had temperatures in the 60s and 70s and I was able to run the whole week in a T-shirt and shorts. Of course, until Saturday when I ran the Capital City Half Marathon. This day called for rain and wind and pure yuckiness. Instead of rain we got snow and got a lot of wind. The race is a minature version of the Columbus Marathon. It goes east on Broad Street not very far and then goes through German Village. It continues for four miles up High Street to Lane Avenue, hangs a left and then hangs another left at Tuttle. At Tuttle you go down almost all the way to Larkins Hall (at OSU) and hangs two sharp rights and you go around the stadium. This isn't on the streets; it's on the sidewalk right next to the stadium. You then continue north on Tuttle and turn right on Woody Hayes, right on College Avenue, right on 12th, left on Neil, wind your way through the Short North and then finish on Neil in the Arena District.

Here's what happened to me. Dad, Doug, and I started way too far back and wound up having a slow first mile, 8:45. Then we fell into pace and Dad told us to go ahead around 3 miles. He said he had to go to the bathroom. Going up High Street was into the wind and it was snowing sideways into your face. It was a wet snow too and my clothes were drenched and I was cold. At Broad and High I noticed my shoe was untied so I stopped and tied it and Doug went ahead. I tied my shoe and kept running, passing my dad at Nationwide and High. He yelled, "this sucks...I can't even run" as we passed the windiest part of the race where the freeway goes under High Street and nothing blocks the wind. When I reached the next mile marker I was at 8:08 and that included a water stop and my shoe tying so I knew I was flying. Shortly after the mile marker, I passed Doug and he didn't look like he was having fun. When we turned on Lane Avenue I saw Darryl ahead and caught him and talked to him for a while. By this point my hands were numb and he said he belly was numb. Thinking about it when he said it, my belly was a little numb too. The trip around the stadium sucked. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs to think again. Coming back up Tuttle was pure mud puddles and I quickly discovered why everyone was running on the sidewalks by the architecture school. As I went under the school I had a big snowball drop on my shoulder. It kinda hurt. As I was running up Woody Hayes, I started reminiscing about running Columbus two years ago and qualifying for Boston. This is where I was walking and crying and realized that I was still ahead of pace and only had three miles left and could qualify. It was nice to be at this point in the half marathon and still feel fantastic. When we turned left onto Neil, I saw a girl I used to run with and I took the next mile and a half to catch her. She saw me there and pulled ahead just a little. I let her for a while but then I pushed ahead of her for the last mile. As I crossed the finish line, a foot stepped in front of mine on the right to beat me out. It was the girl I had caught and I was pretty deflated at that point. But, being that we were wearing chips, I actually beat her by 2 places. First time I've ever beat her in a race. I finished in 1:42:55, which I wasn't trying to do, but the race felt fantastic. I never felt tired or winded and I really had a great run. I was underdressed, though, and my hands got really wet and cold and lost feeling and I was really concerned that I was getting frostbite. As soon as my dad finished I made him take me to the car and go home because of my hands. Hopefully next year the weather won't be so bad for the race.