Mesa, Arizona
I couldn’t resist this race. It is a half marathon that goes slightly downhill the entire race. Too bad I am currently too fat, too out of shape and still recovering from being sick to take advantage of the opportunity to set a new personal record.
This was a well run race. We bused up to the start and they had about ten bon fires going to keep the athletes warm. The wind was the real source of the cold and since had brought my parka, I opted to be anti-social and found a spot out of the wind to stay warm. I didn’t want to breathe smoke from the fires prior to the race. The first 5 miles of this race are beautifully fast. I was running under 8 minute miles. It is down hill, but no so steep as to cause any problem for me in running. Even at 245 lbs I was running under 8:00 minute miles. The first three miles are straight down Ellsworth road. You couldn’t find a better road to run from an elevation and road surface perspective. In fact those first 5 miles are so wonderful that when you finally flatten out it seems like a hill. At about mile seven we hit power road, and although it doesn’t look like much of an uphill on the elevation chart it certainly felt like running uphill. Maybe I had just gotten spoiled earlier on in the race. Now when I say hill I just mean a slight elevation gain which went on for about three miles. I finished in 01:54:53, which is a little better than my average half marathon. I attribute this to the accommodating course. I was running this race at 245 lbs which had to cost me. I was getting a little dehydrated. The only criticism I have of this race was that it had too few aid stations. I needed water as I did not carry any.
This race had more post race food options than any race I have seen. They even gave you a bag to collect it. This is definitely my favorite Arizona half marathon. I signed Christian and I up for it next year.
This was a well run race. We bused up to the start and they had about ten bon fires going to keep the athletes warm. The wind was the real source of the cold and since had brought my parka, I opted to be anti-social and found a spot out of the wind to stay warm. I didn’t want to breathe smoke from the fires prior to the race. The first 5 miles of this race are beautifully fast. I was running under 8 minute miles. It is down hill, but no so steep as to cause any problem for me in running. Even at 245 lbs I was running under 8:00 minute miles. The first three miles are straight down Ellsworth road. You couldn’t find a better road to run from an elevation and road surface perspective. In fact those first 5 miles are so wonderful that when you finally flatten out it seems like a hill. At about mile seven we hit power road, and although it doesn’t look like much of an uphill on the elevation chart it certainly felt like running uphill. Maybe I had just gotten spoiled earlier on in the race. Now when I say hill I just mean a slight elevation gain which went on for about three miles. I finished in 01:54:53, which is a little better than my average half marathon. I attribute this to the accommodating course. I was running this race at 245 lbs which had to cost me. I was getting a little dehydrated. The only criticism I have of this race was that it had too few aid stations. I needed water as I did not carry any.
This race had more post race food options than any race I have seen. They even gave you a bag to collect it. This is definitely my favorite Arizona half marathon. I signed Christian and I up for it next year.
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