Last Saturday, I ran the Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon. I loved how many options they had as far as distances, 5k, half marathon, full marathon, and a 4 person marathon relay. There was also a challenge for doing the 5k and half. But let's start back at the beginning!
Pre-race communication was really good. I felt like I was provided a lot of information and it was all pretty clear.
The expo was at the Baltimore convention center. It seemed like a mid size expo. It was big enough that you could pick up things you needed (I had forgotten my chews and nuun) but it wasn't overwhelming. There were only a couple people in line in front of us when we had to pick up our bibs and no one in front of us when we picked up our shirts. I loved the shirt color! I think we made it in and out of the expo in 20 minutes. There was no race day packet pick up.
Then it was race day! The half marathon actually didn't start until 9:45 so definitely later than most races. We took advantage of that to have a leisurely morning getting ready for the race. We were also staying at a hotel that was only 2 blocks from the start line so we left at 9am and walked over. We were in time to see the lead marathoners go by and it was cool to cheer them on! The corrals were marked pretty clearly but no one was policing them. This race has a really generous time limit so we went and lined up in our spot in the second to last corral.
And they had free race photos!
Ok, the race itself. I'm sure if you've heard anyone talk about this race, you've heard them talk about the hills. That's the big thing that sticks out. You can see the elevation chart below.
I train on hills, I thought I was prepared, and it still kicked my butt. It was almost 600 feet of elevation gain and most of it was in the first 9 miles. My plan was to try to take it easy enough in the first 9 miles so that I'd have gas left in the tank to pick it up in the last 4 miles when it was mostly downhill. That didn't happen.
But other than the hills, it was a great race. It was really well organized, great volunteers, good crown support. The marathon course joined back up with the half marathon course around our mile 3 so while it never felt too congested to me, it never felt lonely either. There were plenty of people around. And the people of Baltimore really came out to support the race. There were lots of people cheering, cute kids and dogs, funny signs, cool street art, and extra race support. I had a mimosa, a beer and a donut hole along the course and there were even more things I didn't take advantage of. The crowd support was a bit sparser from mile 8 to 12 and it seemed like a more industrial area of the city, so that made the race even harder at that point.
Crowd support out in their carneval gear!
I didn't really have a time goal for this race since I knew about the hills but it was still much slower than I expected. My legs were just super fatigued at the end and I felt like I could barely lift my legs. I ended up having to walk any bit of uphill after mile 10.
The post-race experience was great! It finished at the waterfront and it was a beautiful October afternoon. There was music, food, and fun. They had a merchandise tent, free beer for runners, and changing tents. And an amazing medal!
So that's my race experience. I really enjoyed it until around mile 8 or so but then I really faded after that. And while I thought the race was great for the most part, the hills just made it tough and I'm not sure I would do this race again.
The struggle is visible on my face at the finish line!
Pros: great start and finish line by the water, great pre-race communication, late morning start and generous time limit, lots of crowd support, well organized, cool medal!
Cons: The hills are the only con I have for this race.
