Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon – 10/15/2016

Well, it has taken a couple of weeks, but here is my recap of Half Marathon #2 in state #2. I’ve got a long way to go to catch my buddy David in that department. Having said that, I definitely feel that I made some progress between the Patrick Henry Half and the Baltimore Half. That and a PR are the positives. I didn’t hit my time goal, but it’s ok.

I left Virginia Beach Friday morning to make the drive to Baltimore. The drive took me 5 hours to be in downtown Baltimore. If you’ve ever tried to get out of Virginia Beach via the Hampton Roads Bridge/Tunnel, you know that 5 hours is a big deal.

I parked and walked the mile to the expo to pick up my race packet, and grab a few Gu packets for the race. The expo was well organized and I was in and out in less that 30 minutes.

Race Day. The half began at 9:45 which is a late start but it was to allow the full marathon elites to get beyond the merge point before the course was flooded with half marathoners. The one word to describe this race for me would be HILLS. Running in a downtown area, you don’t expect the elevation changes that we experienced during this race. My GPS had me at an elevation gain of over 660 feet for the course of this race.

I hit the wall at mile 12 (3 miles later than my previous half marathon wall). Despite hydrating as well as I could, I started fighting cramps. It slowed me down considerably as I finished in 2:27:19. That’s still a 4+ minute PR!

The highlights of this race for me are the community support and the final stretch. The people of Baltimore come out in full force to support the runners and it is awesome. The final stretch of the run brings you straight down Eutaw Street between Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the warehouse. You cross the finish line between OPACY and M&T Stadium, the home of the Ravens.

I had a great time and hope to run this race again.  Here’s some pics from the weekend.