Thursday, October 4, 2012

Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon 2012:::: Race Recap & Review


cherokee harvest half marathon & 5k
half mary # 8
race# 7 of 12 in 2012
time:  2:16:21 
overall:  140/185
age group: 9/13

expo:
to my knowledge, there was no expo for this race. race day packet pick up was available (always a plus in my opinion). 

race morning:
i got up early to make the drive to cherokee. this guy was super excited about my race!


more like he was super excited to get fed :)

 cherokee is about an hour outside of asheville and i'd never been there before so i wanted to make sure i'd have plenty of time to get there. i had trouble finding the start line/packet pick up area. i would have definitely appreciated some signs! parking was great, packet pick up took 5 minutes and the volunteers were super friendly and helpful. there weren't a lot of port-o-potties, but the lines weren't long, so i'd say there were plenty. 

personally this race morning was a little different. typically my race morning breakfast is a clif bar and some G2. with my new eating plan i was up in the air as to what to eat. i typically eat egg whites, a slice of ezekiel bread, and a half a banana. for race morning the only thing i changed was that i added about a teaspoon of natural PB on my bread. it seemed to work pretty well for me. i didn't have any stomach upset and i wasn't hungry immediately. 

goals:
my goals for this race were pretty broad. i really wanted to finish in under 2:30. but i wasn't going to be crushed if it didn't happen. i'd shared it with you all... august and september have been VERY LOW mileage months. 

the race:
if i could describe this race in one word... it'd be BEAUTIFUL. talk about beautiful scenery. rivers, streams, leaves, trees... beautiful! the volunteers were amazing. so helpful and friendly! as you can tell from the pictures, it was dreary and rainy during the race. those volunteers were out in the rain with us with smiles on their faces. you've gotta appreciate that! 

there were water stops every 2 miles, they gave out hammer gels around mile 8, they had water and gatorade and pretzels at some stops. great course support!

the race measured a little short on my garmin, coming in around 12.65 miles. the course was mostly flat aside from one BIG hill around mile 6 (i think). and you better believe i walked up that baby!

my race:
this race went amazingly well for me considering my low mileage. apparently all that cross training has been very effective at keeping me in shape! the first five miles went really well, and i was able to follow my usual fuel plan and took 1 shot blok every mile starting at mile 7. i didn't take any gatorade during the race [i usually do after mile 5 or so] and i feel like it affected me. i'm going to experiment with salt tabs because i felt a little crampy after the race. i also got that dehydrated feeling towards the end so i started taking 2 waters at the stops. 

swag:
we received awesome handmade medals at the finish line. 



we also got a long sleeved technical shirt that i'm loving, but it's a little big on me. brad is trying to steal it like none other. i told him absolutely not! because i was in the first 300 racers to register, I also got some extra swag:  a Nike N7 shirt, a drawstring bag, and a fleece toboggan. All extremely nice, especially for such a small race!


i am really looking forward to doing this race again next year. it was a great time, a beautiful course, and it was very well supplied. 

7 comments:

  1. wow you did awesome, congrats girl! yah for cross training helping you, you are rocking it girl!

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  2. I love races that have handmade stuff! I'm also starting to like smaller races much more than big ones. Less people, less shuffling around!

    Congrats on another finish! You came in well under what you thought you would!

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  3. That sounds like such an ideal race experience- beautiful course, helpful support, and great goodies! Congrats on your awesome race time, too!

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  4. That is a pretty nice medal. Good job on your time!!

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  5. Beautiful course and awesome finish. I checked out your race photos and you look amazing! Cross training suits you :)

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  6. The swag at this race looks great and I am so glad to hear there was only one hill! I may try to come up for this race next year!

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  7. That's a lot of swag for a smaller race. You racked up! Nice job coming in well under 2:30. Hope you are able to use salt tabs to help prevent cramping. It sounds like the volunteers really made this a great race to participate in.

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