I had a great weekend in which I ran two road races: the Tarheel 10 miler yesterday [Saturday] and the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon this morning [Sunday]. Hopefully their locations are implicit. It's not typical, or often recommended to run two races back-to-back like this. But for one, I just really was interested in doing both these races. Secondly, running the half marathon on somewhat tired legs helps prepare my system for when I get to the run leg of the half Ironman (HIM).
Both races were run by different groups/companies and had their own quirks. For the Tarheel10, I thought the races was a little under-managed given the advertised scale of the event. Routine updates were few and post-race results were slow (given current trends/standards. A few years ago, an afternoon results posting would be fine, whereas today, you've got to have them up within a few hours). There was also very little direction from parking to the race start, where they were not in close/visible proximity to each other. At Raleigh Rocks, the parking was 100 yards from the start, so this was a non-issue. I also thought it course was better marked (or maybe I was just more attentive). However, I was little disappointed to in a cotton T-shirt, and the embroidered cap that I expected to be "performance" as simple cloth. While I know I am sounding picky, I am more just stating how the race management differed from some "standard" procedures. Raleigh Rocks definitely gets kudos for speedy race results, which were posted within minutes of finishes.
Of course my own performance should be the most important thing and in both cases I met my goals, and met or exceeded my expectations. For both, my goal was a sub-7:00 min/mile pace. For Tarheel this was also my expectation, given a solid training week and bare-requisite taper. For Raleigh Rocks, the sub-7 was a goal, but my expectation was more along a 7:15 min/mile pace, given some tired legs and more rolling hills (Tarheel can be called hilly as well; there were fewer, but more substantial). I can happily report (Tarheel results; Raleigh Rocks results sub-7:00 paces for both races. Tarheel 10 miler I was 1:09:25 (I think gun-time, still waiting for chip-time), for 95/2201 overall (84/942 men, age group unknown) Raleigh Rocks I was 1:30:26 for 18/1169 (17/450 men, 2/33 20-24 age group). I don't put a whole lot of weight into rankins; the size and make-up of the field can have big effects. I am happy with both times, which gave me my sub-7:00 paces, which are huge confidence boosters.
My one fear coming out of the half is my fueling/hydration. Fueling has always been difficult, and during a race paper cups make it significantly harder, lessening my chances of trying to take anything in. If I'm smart I'll try to remedy this in training, but... I'm not always that smart...
Saw a couple of people running with Vibrams Five Fingers, the shoes behind/associated with the barefoot/minimalist running trend. I bought a pair at REI and will ideally humbly begin to incorporate some running with them.
And yah, Diet Supernova (Diet Dew Challenge won. Again: tastes like liquid Skittles.
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