Saturday, July 18, 2015

The Morgan Valley Half Marathon {race recap}

Race morning started really early (3 am) because the hotel was over an hour away from the race venue. And since we would be driving in a strange area Giselle (who drove) and I wanted to ensure we had enough time to get to the venue (just in case we got lost). It was still pretty dark by the time we got there, and as we were driving up we saw the full marathon group heading out for their start. 

Over the past year of running half marathons I've gotten accustomed to participating in huge races, with huge expos and crowded starts. But the Morgan Vally Half was much smaller, and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the perks of participating in a smaller race:
1. No line for race day packet pick up
2. Very short lines for the porta potties
3. Cool race swag
4. A non-crowded start...
(more people eventually showed up)


The backdrop for the morning run was beautiful...
By the time the race got started the sun was up and as ready to start the day as I was to start running.

The route was hilly, but it was a beautiful race course so I took some ALOT of pictures along the way. Some of the pictures are kind of blurry (sorry), but most came out ok.

Mile 1...

Mile 2...

Mile 3...

Mile 4...

Mile 5...

Mile 6...

Somewhere between miles 6 & 7...

Mile 7...

Mile 8...

Mile 9...

Mile 10...

Mile 11...
(my thumb photo bombed the pic)

Mile 12...

Mile 13.1 (at the finish with Giselle)...

I loved the route! It was really beautiful and scenic but I was more excited that the race was done because my legs were killing me (and my glutes too because those hills were no joke)...

My Garmin finish time...
My official finish time was 2:44:13.8

While we were driving away from the race, we stopped to take a picture of this spectacular view...

Overall I thought the race was great. Running the hills (and at that elevation) was a good addition to my overall training. Of course, hill work doesn't do much good if you only do it once so I know I'll need to find a way to continue to build it into my training plan.

Would I run the Morgan Valley Half again?... Yes I definitely would; but not until I finish all my Bucket List races (since I'm trying not to repeat any half marathons before then). If you're looking for a smaller destination race with a beautiful route then you can check out the Morgan Valley (half) Marathon website here

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