Cocoa Women's Half Marathon
January 19, 2014San Antonio, TX
4 hour course limit
Why This Race?
When I came up with the idea to do 13 races in 13 months the Aramco Half Marathon in Houston was sold out, except for charity entries which are REALLY expensive. (Note: If I ever become super wealthy I'm totally going to do charity entries because they come with the promise of things like private pre-race bathrooms. Sounds pretty luxe.) Christian is already registered for the USA Fit Marathon in Sugar Land later this month and we don't have backup to watch the kids so we can race on the same day. That left me with no local choices.
Looking around races in Texas I found the Cocoa Women's Half. Women? Yes, I am one! Cocoa? Yes, I love it! San Antonio? Yes, it's our favorite local trip town! The new part for this is traveling to a race. Since I'm bringing my whole cheering section along, this should be a fun and challenging trip. I've also never done a race through a downtown area and the course switches direction frequently. Since I'm not as far toward the back of the pack as I thought I would be, I think I should always have someone to follow. Also, the kids have no school on the following Monday so we can catch up on what we don't get done due to a busy weekend.
Goals
When I came up with the idea to do 13 races in 13 months the Aramco Half Marathon in Houston was sold out, except for charity entries which are REALLY expensive. (Note: If I ever become super wealthy I'm totally going to do charity entries because they come with the promise of things like private pre-race bathrooms. Sounds pretty luxe.) Christian is already registered for the USA Fit Marathon in Sugar Land later this month and we don't have backup to watch the kids so we can race on the same day. That left me with no local choices.
Looking around races in Texas I found the Cocoa Women's Half. Women? Yes, I am one! Cocoa? Yes, I love it! San Antonio? Yes, it's our favorite local trip town! The new part for this is traveling to a race. Since I'm bringing my whole cheering section along, this should be a fun and challenging trip. I've also never done a race through a downtown area and the course switches direction frequently. Since I'm not as far toward the back of the pack as I thought I would be, I think I should always have someone to follow. Also, the kids have no school on the following Monday so we can catch up on what we don't get done due to a busy weekend.
Goals
I am hoping to go below three hours again, since we're still in the nice cool weather part of the year in Texas. I'm also focusing on efficiency of movement and seeing how that affects both my pace and my perceived exertion.
Strategy
I am pretty much doing the same as my first race, to go out a bit conservatively and try to keep my pace steady. Although the RunGirl 13.1 course wasn't hilly by Christian's standards, it did have a few hills. I train completely flat here in the interest of knee preservation. Since this is a downtown course it should be flat as well, so it will be interesting to see how that changes things. I'm not sure if I'm going to push as hard as I did last time. I'd like to finish smiling!
I am pretty much doing the same as my first race, to go out a bit conservatively and try to keep my pace steady. Although the RunGirl 13.1 course wasn't hilly by Christian's standards, it did have a few hills. I train completely flat here in the interest of knee preservation. Since this is a downtown course it should be flat as well, so it will be interesting to see how that changes things. I'm not sure if I'm going to push as hard as I did last time. I'd like to finish smiling!
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