Tag: germantown

G’town Half

Germantown Half MarathonCloudy and Sunny, Wet and Dry, 40 degrees and 70 degrees – That is difference between the 2010 Germantown Half Marathon and the 2011 Germantown Half Marathon.

It seemed like everyone in Memphis was running the G’town Half. At the start I chatted with Beth, Susan, Yu and Virgina. Virgina and I discovered we were both aiming for 9:00 – 10:00 minute miles and decided to try to run together. I can’t say enough how much this helped.

Right at mile 1 I bumped into Bobby’s dad, Mike (Last year I didn’t catch up to him until mile 5). For the first couple miles we ran with Patrick, but then he picked up speed. We caught up to Francesca around mile 4 and ran with her for a bit. We loved Mile’s hot dog costume and “power up boost” poster at mile 5.

Germantown Half MarathonThe half way point at Houston High School featured a water stop hosted by all the Breakaway crew and a beer stop hosted by James, Keshia and Cassie (taking photos). One gentleman behind me grabbed a beer and said, “Don’t take my photo; I’m Baptist!” I was feeling so good I took a sip of beer, my first ever during a race!

This whole time Virgina and I had been staying closer to 9:00 minute pace than 10:00, and feeling great! We might both PR, but it would be close. We ran into Patrick again at mile 9-10 at Cameron Brown Park and ran with him some more (his knee was hurting really bad). It was at mile 10 last year where I couldn’t keep up with Keshia anymore and had to fall back. Not this year!

Germantown Half MarathonAt mile 12-12.5 we saw Bobby! He had finished at 1:29:11 (a PR by a minute) and ran us in. I was feeling great and had a super fast sprint to the finish. My final time was 2:05:58. Virgina was right behind at 2:06:14. Our friends were not too far behind us.

Afterwards I felt a little lightheaded for a couple minutes, but after sitting down for 5 minutes, I was good. Apparently right after I finished some girl had to be put on a gurney for dehydration – it was a warm day. The food afterwards, was not so great: Soup, small generic cookies and bananas. I guess the rational is that it isn’t a marathon. Oh, and I did get my small tech shirt this year as opposed to last year!

What’s great about the Germantown Half:

  • Mostly flat course
  • Good crowd support
  • Scenic, suburban course
  • If it isn’t randomly ice cold and raining, there should be mild temperatures
  • Everyone you know in Shelby County will be there!

What’s not-so-great about the Germantown Half:

  • Food after race is not that good
  • Shirts are tech, but could use a redesign – Rather small seal/logo left chest and sponsors on back (maybe make logo full chest at least?)

The Germantown Half Marathon – Times & Pics!

Here are the official results of the Germantown Half Marathon.

I came in at 2:21:40, under my 2:30 limit. (But what really mattered to me was no walking) AND I talked to Keshia and she happened to talk to the fellow who did the timing. Seems a few half-marathoners times were inadvertently increased by 5 minutes because they started with the 5k runners. So my time might have been 5 minutes better! I’m happy either way.

A couple more photos of me. Funny, I don’t remember running through a floating banner with the word “Proof” on it at the end of the race…Hmmm…

Bobby came in at 1:37:45 and 7th in his age group (25-29). Woo-hoo!

A couple more photos of Bobby. Looks like there some “Proof” shaped clouds following him around too! Must have been that Thai food.

Danny Gallagher came in at 1:55:26 – Third in his age group (15-19) and winner of a sweet crystal trophy. Awesome job for this guy’s first half-marathon!

The Germantown Half Marathon – Bethany

My first half marathon ever was Sunday, March 21 @ 7:30am and what a half marathon it was!

Friday the weather forecasts were calling for thunderstorms Sunday – NOoooo! But by Saturday that had changed to just cold rain – Well, that’s better I guess. We ate the traditional pre-run spicy Thai food (HA!) at Bangkok Alley Saturday night to celebrate our friend Morgan’s 25th birthday. We stayed out a little bit later than we wanted, but it was worth seeing everyone.

Saturday I woke myself up at 4am, fearing I was oversleeping – Arrrgh! Got back to sleep, but woke up again at 5am – Grrr! Then finally slept and woke up properly at 6am. Had my clothes and shoes laid out the night before. Applied some Band-Aid Blister Block (this stuff is GOLD!) to my arches, big toes and other areas. Brought chapstick, 2 Band-Aids and tissue (which I would later realize would be stupid) in my pocket. Ate some oatmeal and drank some orange juice. Put on my trusty pink baseball hat (perfect for rain – thank goodness I wore it!)

We met Bobby’s brother Danny at 7:00am at the Germantown Municipal Park gazebo (they couldn’t think of the name of it and called it a podium – Whaaaat? Boys…) By that point we could tell it was going to be a cold and rainy day. I decided then that I would run in my cotton hoodie and that I’d just tie around my waist if I got warm.

We hung out in the Germantown Great Hall for a bit. We met up with Keshia. Then we all decided to use the restroom one last time. The boys got in and out in 5.2 seconds. Keshia and I were in line for a good 10 minutes (note to the Germantown Great Hall: You need more woman’s bathrooms!), and I am pretty sure Keshia and I missed the Half Marathon start and started with the 5k folks. But no problems.

Follow the race on this map

The first 6 miles went by fast for me. Saw Mike (father-in-law) at around the 5 mile point. Then we headed into the Houston High School and Houston Levee park (where I worked my 2nd summer as a day camp counselor). Saw the folks from Breakaway, Janice (mother-in-law) and Keshia’s husband James. About this time I started to get a little HUNGRY. I’d never gotten hungry at a race before, ever.

Mile 8 was when the muscles around my knees started to ache a bit. But at least it wasn’t a sharp joint knee pain, which I’ve had before too – that is worse. And I started to get HUNGRIER. Keshia had some Jelly Belly Energy Beans and I asked for a few. Those suckers are good – I’m definitely going to get some next time. Around this point they offered some Gatorade for the first time, so I snatched that up too. Mile 7-8 was also about when we came out of the park and started coming back down Farmington/Wolf River. So now the chilling wind was coming right at us in our faces.

Mile 9 was when we took a turn in to Cameron Brown Park, where Bobby and I worked together my first year as a day camp counselor.

Mile 10 I started to get some aches around my hip muscles – Boo! But the knee aches were going away (worked themselves out). Most importantly, I STILL had not gotten a blister, even with sopping wet shoes (see the wonderful Band-Aid Blister Block above). To me, blisters are the worst. So as long as I didn’t get one, I could keep going a long time (even if it is a slow pace).

Mile 11 I started to slow down a bit. I was getting hungrier (dreaming about all the food I would eat when I was done) and hips still hurt some. I told Keshia to go on. I was tempted to walk near the end, but it was only 2 miles! That was nothing compared to how far I’d come. Proud to say I kept running (a slow run near the end!) and crossed the finish line at 2 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds, quite a bit under my 2 hour & 30 minute goal. As I crossed, I surprised myself by getting a little close to crying – I was SO happy. Not happy it was over, but just proud of myself and caught up in the moment – they were even announcing people’s names as they crossed like the St. Jude Marathon.

Bobby, Danny and Janice met me right away. Dan gave me a banana and Bobby gave me some awesome chicken chili. Then we spotted Keshia and James. We all sat down and devoured our food. I looked in my pocket and found the completely soaked band-aids and tissue – glad I didn’t need them (could you imagine me trying to blow my nose in that downpour?).

It was a great day and a great race.