Okay, that photo is actually from our warmup. We reluctantly shed too many of those warm clothes and were ready for the start. My picture from right before the start shows exactly how I felt about the temperature:
After a brief speech by Birmingham's mayor in which he proudly proclaimed that runners were present from all 50 states--I was inclined to believe this since Ray and I were representing one of the states that would seem to be among the most illusive, but my post-race research revealed that there were no citizens from Rhode Island, among others--the gun sounded, and we were off.
The course for the Mercedes Half Marathon is what I would describe as a "fair" course. (The full marathon course is essentially two laps of the half course, so most of my comments would pertain equally to that race.) It's definitely not in the "flat and fast category" but the climbing that you do is rewarded with equal descents. When combined with the cool weather, I figure that it was a pretty decent day for fast times. Ray confirmed that theory, but more on that later.
The first four miles or so of the course were either flat or very gently rolling as you wind through downtown Birmingham. From mile 4 to 6, you head through UAB (my alma mater), which has a bit of climbing to it. At about 10k, you start on a moderate but steady climb that continues until mile 8 or so. For those familiar with Birmingham, this climb takes you through Five Points and on to Highland Avenue. This is definitely the most challenging part of the course. From there, it's mostly descents and flats with just a few gentle inclines to keep the legs fresh. I found some of the straights in the last few miles to be a little windy, but in general, the weather was excellent for racing.
My race went pretty well. I went out too conservatively (which wasn't helped by inaccurate split markers that led me to believe temporarily that I had gone out way too fast), but that left me feeling strong for the back half of the race. I was able to attack the late miles of the race--a nice and all too rare feeling--and came in at 1:16:18, which was good for 19th place overall and first in the old man age group. Not a bad run, but I wish that I had pushed it a little more in the early miles.
Ray was not far behind. I jogged back out to the course just in time to give Ray some encouragement as he began his Bolt-like sprint to the finish. Ray broke the tap in 1:29:40, a massive PR for him, which put him 79th overall (out of 3200+) and 9th in the really old man age group.
After being dragged on an unmercifully long cool down, we headed to brunch where Ray and I celebrated our runs by consuming mass quantities of whatever food happened to come in front of our faces. A big bowl of grits was a nice change of pace from my Kona post race favorite, loco moco.
It was a really fun day and we both had good runs. I wish I could have lopped the kind of time off my PR that Ray did! I do have to say "good job" to the Mercedes Half Marathon. The whole race was put on really well, with logistics and aid stations being perfect. My only criticism of the race would be that many of the mile splits were hopelessly inaccurate--a minor problem, but still seems easily avoidable when just about everyone has a GPS watch these days. Still, I give this race a solid A rating--and where else can you get a giant finishers medal that looks like you just ripped it of a $100k+ car?
The two members of our fan club*; we're desperately seeking more:
Some crazy locals keeping it fun in the full:
*Only kidding here. Ray and I were both lucky enough to have several other people out cheering for us.
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