Half Marathon what a great time

Ran my first half marathon, at Clarksville TN. My wife an I ran together and had a great time. We tried to run a 12 minute pace through the whole course but that only happen for the first 4.5 miles. It went down hill from there. We finished in 3:00:34 but we finished that's what was important. The next day we signed up to run the Nashville half  marathin  April 24th 2010 and we want to be under the 2 1/2 hour mark.

The course started out very flat, we made it to the firs****er stop and they were out of water, that was not good. They told us the next stop was 1 1/2 miles up the road. so we kept our pace and made it to the nex****er stop. You guessed it out of water. They said they had more people than expected, and the next top was 1.5 mile ahead. We kept our pace and finally made it to the next stop and no freakin cup you had to cup your hand to ge****er, we got a couple of sips and moved no, but we are now at a much slowed pace and need some water. At mile 6 they had so much water and cup we just stopped and drank as much as we could. maybe that was a mistake but we needed the water. We felt worst for about 2 miles after that stop, not sure if it was because we drank so much or stopped for 5 minutes drinking water. At the 8 mile mark we hit a head wind that was a killer and had to walk into it for a while and at the 10 mile mark the hills started. We walked up the hills and ran down. My knees hurt by mile 11 and we started running every other telephone pole to the finish line. Now we know what it takes to do it and we will be better trained for Nashville.

Great Job on your fini****hat really sux they were out of water at the 1st 2 stops then made you lap up water on the 3rd... Never a dull moment I guess... Congrats again and thanks for posting about your experience...

You learn something in every race.  Unfortunately it seems like that race had a huge learning curve.  It is simply unaccaptable to be out of water.  Great job in finishing.

Congrats!!    Awesome you could run it with your wife. 

I signed up for Country Music Full Marathon in Nashville myself just a few days ago!!  Woohoo!!!

sounds like a tough one... great job finishing!  can't believe they didn't have water @ the first two stops, that is really poor form and poor planning.

Congratulations on your finish!! I'm glad you finally got some water too!

Congratulations. Awesome job and way to persevere through those early obstacles. I agree, running out of water is unacceptable and not real safe. I will definately wear my fuel belt during my upcoming half.

Congrats on finishing your first 1/2 marathon.

It was a great feeling wasn't it.  Best wishes to you and your wife.  Good luck on the next one, you will kill it now that you know what to expect.

Scott

Congrats and definitely next time you will be prepared for the worst!  That's a lot of running withou****er, yipes!  And I feel awful if I drink too much at once, probably that's why you felt bad..........

I have bad knees so I identify directly with your description.  My first half is April 11, 2010 so I will do my best to prepare by then...........

Congrats, Cooper!  I am planning my first half in the Spring.  But, it will be a flat course, so I won't have to worry about the hills . . . I'll just keep my eye on the water, though!