Run Hard Lexington Half Marathon – December 6, 2014

I trained for and ran in the Run Hard Lexington Half Marathon today. This was the first year that Run Hard partnered with the Warm A Heart PattyPacks to bring a great race to the Lexington, SC area.

Run Hard is a non-profit running club that offers an 8-week after school running program to help prepare boys for an upcoming 5K race. The Warm A Heart PattyPacks is also a non-profit organization that strives to assist families affected by lengthy stays in pediatric intensive care. I really enjoy contributing to charities that are community centered. I’m especially supportive of getting young kids moving.

One of my goals for next year is to get my son back into running. My son and I used to run the Susan Komen’s Race for the Cure, every Mother’s Day weekend (but when they stopped funding Planned Parenthood…I stopped supporting them). He ran a few 5k’s with me in the past so it would be awesome if we could tackle different races together in 2015 (fingers crossed).

Packet Pick-up

Packet pick up was at the Lexington First Baptist Church. I’m not really sure what to expect at these things but I do know the majority of them have been a quick turnaround. Folks just don’t seem very welcoming. I would recommend the host do a survey of the crowd to see how others feel about the expo (because maybe it’s just me) and a survey could also be used to help improve the overall experience (from expo, running the course, after party). Like one suggestion I would make would be to start with the older age groups first when giving out awards :). So as usual I was pretty much in and out. I did stop at one table and met a representative from Team Red White Blue (RWB). You know, I would always see people wearing the Team RWB shirts in races but never knew they were veterans. This is a win win, since I’m a veteran….yep served eight years in the United States Air Force. So you know I’m going to join the Columbia, SC chapter, right!?!.

I also stopped and spoke with the spokeswoman for Run Hard (at least I think she was the spokeswoman). She was telling me all about the program and how she’s trying to get into schools on the northeast side. If you live in Columbia, SC and are interested in having the Run Hard program at your child’s middle school please contact them directly by clicking here.

Pre-Race

I got my stuff all ready the night before the race and laid out every thing for in the morning. I’m usually in bed by 8:00 pm (yes even on a Friday) but was forced to stay up later than usual (teenager doing after school activities). Got in the bed around 10:30 pm. Oh well I’m a ‘G’…I stay ready…sleep or nah. 🙂

Let the Running Begin

Woke up around 3 am (yeah I’m normally an early bird but it never fails…race day jitters always have me up earlier than usual). I headed out the door about three hours later to meet up with my BGR! Columbia sole sistahs (and my sole sistah Yvonne from BGR! Augusta). Once again we represented BGR! Looking good ladies!!!!

My overall goal for this race was to finish in under 2:00 hours. And I did that!!! Once again I set my eye on this one lady (believe it or not it was the same lady from the Runway Run 5K) from the very beginning and was determined to catch up with her (my motivation since I didn’t catch her last race). I passed her up around mile 3 and there was no looking back from there. Yep Yep. I crossed the finish line at 1:53:44. I’ll take that!!!

For this to be the first year, I felt the race was very well-organized. Water and Gatorade was provided along the course (you know I stopped once for a sip around the 10 mile mark….I wonder had I not stopped would I have PR’d LOL) at just the right points. The course was pretty much smooth sailing after miles 5-7 (very steady incline). With being a good race overall, I was a little disappointed with the race t-shirt. It was advertised on the website as being a high quality running technical shirt but what I received was a long sleeve cotton shirt. No bueno. Oh well I’m going to give them a pass since this was their first year.

Two of my BGR! Columbia Sole Sistahs won 2nd place in the Run Hard Lexington Half Relay. Shonta’ and Despina did an excellent job. Congratulations ladies!!!!