St. Jude Half Marathon Race Report
When: Saturday, December 3, 2016
Where: Memphis, TN
Weather: 40s, raining
Division: Open
This was my A-race for the year, the one I had trained for. Unfortunately, I had trained for the full marathon and ended up completing the half. First rule of endurance sport: shit happens! I will get into all that later, but for now I will just recap the event before I forget (it's been a while - two horrible colds and lots of travel got in the way of my blogging).
The expo was at the convention center downtown. It was very easy to locate, but parking...probably the WORST parking garage I have ever seen in my life. Extremely confusing, no flow whatsoever, no signs whatsoever to tell you which way to go to exit or change levels, no signs pointing you towards the convention center itself, and I could go on and on. It was a travesty, an ABORTION, of a parking garage. Fortunately the parking garage was free, or I would have flipped out even more. Once we finally found parking (on the bottom, most rapist-y level of the structure), the expo itself was decent. Very spread-out and not a lot of free samples, but I've seen worse. The shirt was a phenomenal long-sleeve, thin fabric but the women's has longer sleeves to accommodate a thumbhole (which I am pleased to see is becoming a race-shirt trend - otherwise the sleeves are always too short).
On race day we didn't have to deal with parking, because we had friends drop us off, but the whole race start was a bit of a disaster. Bag drop was easy to find, and we managed to stay warm in a stairwell of the baseball stadium, but once you got towards the corrals, forget it. Wall to wall people and you could barely move. Absolutely terrible organization. There were about 14 different corrals that started 3 minutes apart, which is a terrible, terrible way to start a race. It took. FOREVER. I was back at like corral 13. It was so bad that I was starting to actually get hungry again before the race even friggin' started. Tip, St. Jude: do a damn mass start. It'll take about 1/3 the time.
As for the ten-cent version of my switch from full to half, I will say this, I just didn't have it that day. I thought I'd do the full. I certainly had every intention. But although my walking felt fast, my watch said otherwise. It kept telling me my mile splits were around 14:30, and I felt like I was walking a 13:30. That is a big discrepancy and usually a bad sign. I saw the 5:45, then 6-hour pace groups disappear into the distance and I just thought "what the f***, I feel like I'm walking faster than this." I knew I wouldn't finish in the time limit, and between the rain and the cold and the fact that I didn't seem to know my own body that day, I spent several miles mulling over my choices - take the mile 11 half marathon split, or try to gut out the full. By mile 9 I made my decision to split at 11 and finish the half. No regrets, no sorrow. Live to race another day!
The half marathon ended up being a lot of fun, actually. Besides the chilly and damp weather, which didn't affect me much because I dressed perfectly (tank top with a long-sleeve over it, headband, gloves, and capri tights), the race itself was neat. It was a lovely tour of Memphis, which is a city I'd been to before but never really explored on foot. Going through the St. Jude Children's Hospital campus between miles 5 and 6 was emotional. If we had gone through there later in the race (which I think would be a great idea, actually, if they could change the course), I would have ugly-cried. It is REALLY difficult to feel sorry for yourself when you see kids with cancer cheering you on. The people of Memphis are very friendly and make great spectators, except for the occasional screaming homeless person (ah, the joys of the urban marathon!). The course itself had the perfect amount of hills, in my opinion. Not flat but not too hilly.
We finished the race in a baseball stadium outfield, whereupon we immediately had to climb a large flight of stairs to get to the upper level where the food and exits were. NO, MA'AM. This was so mean. This was CRUEL and UNUSUAL. I have never, and I mean never, seen a race where you were forced to climb stairs at the finish. I honestly don't even know what the wheelchair finishers did. Maybe there weren't any. I mean, I had no problem with the stairs, but then I'd only walked a half marathon. The full marathon finishers were being pushed up the stairs by other Concerned Citizens. And these were the people in good enough shape to do a marathon in 3 hours. No. St. Jude, WHY? Oh, it was bad. Once you got to the top, though, there were immediately bags of food, and you could get Domino's pizza two slices at a time and Krispy Kreme donuts, which really hit the spot. Those are probably two of my favorite types of food, and I ate ravenously. Piles of whole, unpeeled bananas, great to steal for the next day's breakfast. They also had a variety of beverages including beer, Powerade, and chocolate milk. It was a good spread. By the time I'd wolfed down a slice of pizza I heard the announcer say my husband's name as a full marathon finisher, so I was able to help him out (the weather hit him harder than it hit me, and he was pretty effed up, at least until I got some pizza and donuts into him. Yet again, those foods save the day).
Once you were ready to leave, the exit was really far to walk. You had to go all the way around the stadium perimeter. But the bag pickup was very quick and easy, and we stretched in that same heated stairwell we spent time in pre-race. Had a friend pick us up on a nearby side street and poof, we were gone.
Good:
-shirt and medal were top-notch.
-spectators were great, especially considering the bad weather.
-post-race food was awesome. Pizza and donuts? YES. And they weren't stingy with the portions, either.
Bad:
-that damn parking garage at the expo. ARGH.
-the start was a disaster. Legit disaster.
-the start was a disaster. Legit disaster.
-the roads themselves were not in great shape. Lots of potholes and slippery when wet.
-not as many aid stations as there should have been. Fortunately I packed my own Gatorade, but still, put 'em every mile, bitches.
-STAIRS?! Sweet Neptune's trident, what the f*** were they thinking?
Race Grade: B. Like Des Moines, what is good is very very good, and what is bad (start? STAIRS?!) is insane. I would definitely recommend the half marathon, but cannot in good conscience tell people to do a full marathon where you will be immediately asked to scale a large amount of stairs upon finishing.
