CRAWFISH CRAWL HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

Double race morning complete! Two cool medals too!

After the Ladybug 5k it was onto the next race, the Crawfish Crawl Half Marathon starting at Tualatin Park. Laurel and I got there in plenty of time. It was already fairly hot, so we found a patch of grass in the shade and plopped down to relax.

We weren't that far from the starting line but somehow we missed the start of the half marathon. There was no loud announcement or anything. Around 10:31am on my watch we wandered down there, wondering when it was going to start. There were a bunch of runners there waiting around, so I figured we were good. Then a woman said something along the lines of "Are you here for the half marathon? They already started..." after seeing our half marathon bibs. Sure enough, I look towards the course and I see a bunch of walkers in the distance.

That took the drama and dread out of the start. So all of a sudden I'm running a half. It was sort of fun to catch up and pass a bunch of people but it was also kind of annoying because of the smaller park paths. It wasn't too bad though. Eventually after a couple miles I pretty much settled into my correct "pocket." I ended up starting just over two minutes after the gun went off... oops! Thank goodness for chip times.

Death march in progress.

The course was fairly similar to the Ladybug course but certainly different as a 6.55 mile loop vs. 3.1 miles. Everything was going dandy through Cook Park, kind of deja vu, but whatever, and I even ran up that really steep hill again. At the top was a water station and I took my first bottle of water. Yes, bottle of water. Let me explain.

Everyone was bitching to the organizers of this race, the ironically named Better Series, because of the late start. In return, the promised to have "the most hydrated course ever." Unfortunately, it seems like a runner wasn't involved in this hydration planning. Because while they did have about six or seven water stations on the loop, more than usual, they were just handing out bottles of water. Like those 16.9 fl oz bottles you get in a flat at Costco for a few bucks. And 90% of them were warm.

So for the majority of the race I ran gripping a plastic bottle. I ended up drinking two during the race, one on each loop. It was a pain though. I'd rather have the cups of water at six stations, not a bottle I had to lug around. It was ridiculous. A lot of people were taking a bottle, drinking a gulp or two, and then chucking the bottle on the ground. So you had to play dodge'ems with mostly full plastic water bottles while running. It was a cluster. Not to mention none of the aid stations had any electrolytes or energy gels.

That aside, my first loop went fairly well. I was able to hit my marathon pace of 7:55/mile pretty consistently. The course was pretty freaking hilly, making their slogan of "flat, fast, and friendly" a laugher. The neighborhood detour around Cook Park was brutal. Up and down, up and down. Fairly exposed too, and it was getting hot. Nothing like turning a corner and staring into the blasting sun while climbing an 80 foot hill on mile 10. The course was NOT my favorite.

Crossing the finish! Look hot enough?

Anyways, after mile eight my legs started to give. The culmination of the hill workout, 5k, and 8 race pace miles were hitting me. I walked up the steep hill out of Cook Park into the neighborhoods. It was around that point I was done. I wasn't going to be able to maintain 7:55/mile. Maybe if the rest of the course was flat, but no way given the rolling, steep hills to come. My pace slipped about a minute a mile. I still finished out all the miles under 9:00/mile, so that was pretty good.

If you do the math, I did the 5k and first ten miles of the half in 1:41:44, which is a pretty decent half marathon time for not really racing and 36 hours removed from a hill workout. Not to mention those ten miles were in the heat, which approached 80 degrees by the time I finished. Overall, the half marathon was a PW, but I don't know if I can officially count it as a PW considering I wasn't "racing" it. If my PW is 11th out of 141 racers without really racing, I'll take that.

Back to the race. So the second loop sucked. I broke down a little bit but still managed to keep running strong. Nobody was really passing me and the same people were in my sights so they were breaking down too. It was just too hot and hilly. I wanted that loop to be over so bad. Honestly, it didn't take too long though. I just kept chugging ahead and knew I only had a few miles to go. Eventually I worked my way back to the finish line and crossed it for sweet, sweet relief.

Post race refueling at Buffalo Wild Wings.

They did have cold bottles of water at the finish line so I definitely took advantage of that. They also didn't run out of beer, which Laurel and I enjoyed later. They did run out of the free pancake breakfast though and some 10Kers didn't even get any. So terrible planning there. I didn't really care too much as I went to my parents' house, showered, and then went back to meet Laurel as she finished the half. We were both kind of irked at the event and decided to go out to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings to console ourselves. Mmm, chicken.

All told, I wouldn't do this race again. The course sucked and the attempts at hydration were just silly. Next year I think I'll do the Ladybug and just soak that all in. They need a new course for this race and also a new start time. Maybe if they are able to manage a "Tour de Tualatin" type course and earlier start I'd consider it again. But the event I just did? Nah. If Ladybug was a 10/10 this was a 2/10. It was good training though, on the morning I got in 16 miles of "racing" and an additional warm up mile.

Official Chip Time: 1:47:21, 8:11/mile. 11/141 overall, 8/53 male, 3/7 M25-29.