Razvan ME

Summary of the Baltimore Running Festival 2009

Today I run the Half Marathon from the Baltimore Running Festival. My finish time was 2:04:50 which placed me on the overall position 2895 out of 7815 (around the top 37% mark). In the Males 30-34 section I’m probably deeper in the bottom half though. :P The average time per mile was 9:32 was better than I expected. One reason might be the fact that going downhill more than compensated the slowdown accumulated on the uphill sections.

I just eat and not I’m heading to bed for some rest so here some quick observations.

Good stuff:

  • finishing the race faster than I expected
  • the combination of overcast and some showers made the race very enjoyable (and very Baltimore-style too :P)
  • the random people cheering in various places
  • the downhills! Until now I had now idea that I actually like them. :-)
  • the gummy bears. In a few places gummy bears were offered to the runners. Beside being a funny thing in general it was even funnier so see them forming a trail on the running route. Cute!
  • the meal (the regular breakfast I have each) I had when I got home tasted better than ever.

Not so nice stuff:

  • the places with the Gatorade drinks smelled like some medicine to me
  • the smell of the portable rest rooms. There is not much to get things better I guess though. I have to say that I made a stop for one after about 6 miles and after that it was great.
  • the blisters I got on my right foot. It was from a callus but it never gave me such problems before. Ignoring it was not wise though. Lesson learned.
  • the last mile was much harder than I expected
  • the heavy dizziness from the end due to the hard stop. There were so many people at the end that was impossible not to stop though.
  • I lost about 1kg.

Some random stuff:

  • people stopping at Clifton Park to take a leak in the nature. Considering the smell of the alternatives I cannot blame them.
  • no “Keep Plucking that Chicken!” cheering. I would have loved to hear this one. The explanation of the phrase would have made it perfect for anything after 6 miles. Especially for the last one. :-)
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