The wonderful thing about the Ramblin Rose site was that they not only provided a course map, they also had a page which listed the street names and subsequent turns. So, I packed the directions & Gu gel in my hydration pack.
I got a late start but the weather was still nice around 9am. During the first mile, I noticed there were already quite a few hills and inclines. The course flattened around mile 2.5 so I really started to enjoy the interval running at 2 minutes run and 2 minutes walking.
After getting a little lost, I managed to find Shamrock street and headed downhill. I was running the route alone and realized that wasn't a very smart decision. That street was dangerous. There was a three-way intersection with NO stop sign for either road. I literally stood there for 3 minutes waiting for traffic to dissipate so I could safely cross.
Halfway through the run, I started to get really annoyed. I mean really, how many hills are there?! I wasn't tired, my body didn't hurt but the hills were beginning to bother me. I hadn't run a flat mile since 2.5 and it just didn't seem right! If there wasn't a steep hill, there was an incline. The race coordinators designed an extremely challenging route...not too happy.
So, I finally reach mile 10 and my feet are killing me! I still had plenty of water left, but it took all of my strength to keep going. It was 12pm, the sun was out and the humidity was high. It was definitely not a good time to be running. But I kept going. Passersby were rooting for me though. They waved, spoke and encouraged me to continue. When I finally reached 13.1 miles, I stopped to sit down at a corner bistro. My feet were on fire! I finished my water, rubbed my feet and got in my car to head home.
Conclusion: this race is NOT for beginners! I shared my experience with my run group and even the experienced runners were frustrated by the number of hills and inclines. One of them managed to count and reported 22 turns and about 20 hills. I sincerely hope beginner runners are not signing up thinking because it's a women's race, the course is easy. And if they do, I pray they don't get hurt.
I've decided not to register for this race. Ramblin Rose wants you to maintain a 15:00 pace per mile. My pace was only 14:23 plus I want my first half experience to be a good one. There are plenty of half marathons geared for beginners; I'm gonna concentrate on those for a while.
Now, give me a year and I'd be happy to take it on.
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