Marshall Univ Half Marathon

November 10th seems long ago, when really it was only 10 days ago.  When you work close to 80 hours a week and you’re done with looking at a computer screen by the time you get home from work, the last thing you want is more computer screen time, so I apologize this is late!  Now that I’ve had a few days to detox on vacation, here’s the Marshall 1/2 Marathon race recap.

Originally, I was suppose to work Nov. 10.  Small issue since I was signed up to race, but no worries, a switch and problem solved.  I worked a 12 hr shift at work on November 9th so no expo, no free pasta dinner and no hearing Bart Yasso speak.  My mom was also running, so she picked up my race stuff for me.  I left work at 730 PM.  Note, it’s about 5 hrs from Cleveland, OH to Huntington, WV. Enter caffeine and decent driving weather.  I drove, and drove, and drove some more before arriving at the hotel at about 12:30 AM.  Talk about being tired.  I changed, pinned my bib on my shirt and went to bed.  Who needs a shower when you’re going to be showering after a race in 9 hrs anyways?

After falling asleep around 1 AM, we were up and at em at 6 AM. YAWN.  Had my mom not already been there, me not having already paid and spent another $30 on the jacket, I would have turned around about an hour into my drive the day before.  We were about a 10 minute drive from the start so we were there and parked by 6:35.  We may or may not have parked in a Donato’s parking lot down the street from the stadium. We also found port a potties with no lines (Score!!).  We waited around for the start and we were a few minutes delayed before Bart Yasso sent us off.

Holy flatness.  I love flatness.  The race was full of flatness with an occasional incline if you want to even call it that.  The first few miles I felt really good.  And then the fact I was tired and working on 5 hrs of sleep after 5 hrs of driving and a 12.5 hr shift began to kick in.  The first few miles took us through the city.  Somewhere after the 10K mark, we worked our way through a park with a bike path.  Since there’s only 2000 runners, we never felt overly crowded or like we were overwhelmed.  Somewhere between 8-9, Bart Yasso appeared again and shortly after, I took off for the port a potty with no line.  The further in we got, it seemed like the water station tables got shorter.  There were one or two where I got no water at all because I couldn’t get over fast enough for it.  The course is a loop course so we looped backed along the river and into the middle of Huntington, WV.  I was happy to see the last mile or so and was debating what to get for lunch (or what sounded good for lunch).  With about 1/2 a mile left, the marathoners peeled off to start their second loop of the course while all of us who were only 1/2 crazy continued straight and eventually hit the football stadium.  You turn in and run down one of the tunnels onto the field and basically do about 75 yards one way and 75 yards back to the finish carrying a football and with your name being announced as you finish.  You also have the Marshall Mascot available for photo ops (minus the Harley he uses to ride onto the field).  I waited for my mom who came in about 25 minutes after me.  I finished in a little over 2:08, not bad for 5 hrs of sleep.

Overall, I’d come back for the Marshall 1/2 Marathon.  It’s small, but it’s flat and fun.  There were a few issues though.  For some reason, there was an issue getting the starting mat down for the chip timing and it would have pushed the start time back 40 minutes had they continued.  My Garmin time and my actual time was about 3 seconds off so something happened right??  Also, it sounds like people took advantage of the free pasta a little too much so others couldn’t fully enjoy it (c’mon guys, really??).  I wish there would have been a few more tables at some of the water stops because of the few I missed.

Eventually, I’ll come back and make a weekend of this race and do a football game before running the race again.  Well done Marshall Half, well done!