Ocala Half Marathon 2012

What a beautiful day for running!!!! Today was the 15th annual Ocala Marathon and Half Marathon. This a smaller Marathon of about 130 and a Half with about 300 runners, They also have events on Saturday with a 5k and Kid races. Ocala is well know for being "Horse Country." The runners are lucky enough to have part of the course go through the beautiful countryside and able to see many beautiful horses and high priced homes.

                                                      
I signed up for this event in advance to get the low advance $45 price. Pretty low for a Half Marathon. Hopefully they will keep it low. Also with signing up I decided to purchase advance tickets $10 also for the night before Pre Race Pasta Dinner (more on this later). In reading the reviews (like I do for most races) this look to be a fun small event. Weather look like it was going to be great as I arrived on Saturday afternoon. Previous Race Expo, Packet pickup, and Dinner was at nearby hotel, but was moved to the Paddock Mall this year. Since I am just getting longer distance events this would be the first time going to an Expo and Dinner so I was looking forward to it. Previous years had good reviews of both. Well my interest in both quickly went away and an 'Unimpressed" rating!

First you arrive at the mall and enter through the Food Court. Outside they had an inflatable you walked under so good so far. Then you have to walk through half the mall to get to the (what was called) the Expo. Maybe my fault in expecting allot of vendors and stuff, but it was very small. I'm thinking 4 or 5 vendors and that was it. I have seen more at a 5k race. Okay let it pass and not spoil the event I said. So got my Packet, Bib, Shirt, and Dinner tickets. Packet was full of running magazine, race flyers, visor, and various other freebies. My favorite is the bright yellow Chiquita banana headband. Will not wear it, but great conversational piece. All in all not a bad packet. Nice teach shirt (a little small but was able to exchange) and also love the personalized Bib!! So things were looking up. Ah that is until the dinner!

Again maybe I was expecting more and since it was a low price event maybe I am being to critical, but another big letdown. The dinner was positioned in the back of the Food Court (this was not mention until about a week before the event so tickets were already purchased) and as I walked by on the way to the Expo I noticed about 30-40 chairs. I am trying not to be to negative, but no decorations for the event and all that was there was a salad plate (mostly just lettuce), some pasta noodle/sauce (ok this was not that bad), garlic rolls (hard and garlic the night before??), cake (again icing the night before), and lemon green tea  (no other drink provided--no water??). They had run out of spaghetti, but did have some a little later. If I had known it was going to be like this and at the food court I would have chosen to eat elsewhere. Matter of fact my son (my cheering group) did not touch and choose to eat at Chickfila instead. Beside the Space Coast Marathon in November where they have the dinner at Kennedy Space Center I will not buy dinner tickets in advance!! 

Okay let I know let it go and focus on the event. One reason I was looking forward to this event was being able to meet a fellow blogger Kevin from his blog http://halftriing.blogspot.com/ (check it out!). Was able to meet up with him and friend downtown before the dinner. Talked about different events and he talked about running Ocala before. I stated my goal for the race with the hills to get under 2 hours. He stated his goal was to get in about 2:15--YEAH RIGHT! More on that later!
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 After recovering from the legs strains and pains from the end of last year I was looking forward to making of my bad performance in the Brandon in Dec (2:03:55). I knew doing an event with all the hills might not be a good idea, but I had already signed up. My son forgot his jacket (okay maybe I forgot) and it was going to be low 50s so we stopped by Walmart to but a cheap pullover for him. Arrive in plenty of time to hit the portalets twice, talk with Kevin, watch the marathon start, make sure my son knew where to ride his bike to see me, and make my way to the start.

My plan was the event was to run a smart "negative" split race. I was going to break it down into 3 sets of 4 miles. Run the first 4 miles in 36:00-9:00 pace, second 4 in 35:20--8:50 pace, and final third 4 miles in again 36:00-9:00 pace and then having enough for  the last 1 1/10 mile to make my second half faster than the first half. No PR planned with the hills, but running smart. Also just for fun seeing since I will go out slower to see how many "go out to fast" runners I can pass after mile 2 and not get passed.

Lined up and off we went. Started on the mall road and made our way through and then out to the main road CR 475A/27th Ave. At the 1/2 mile point I noticed I was running a 8:34 pace so slow down big boy. Slowed down to pass mile 1 at 8:50 so still a little fast. Made our way down, up, and down some more. Passed some beautiful pastures with some light fog as the sun was beginning to rise. As I made my way passed mile 2 and 3 I was right on pace, starting passing the ones who went out to fast. and keep listening to Kevin, his friend, and another runner that were about 15 yards behind me. Thought he was going out to fast for a 2:15 finish, but focused on my own pace. Reached mile 4 at 35:43 for a 8:56 pace so right on schedule and feeling great even with the couple of hills I passed. More to come of course.

Put on my headphones and picked up the Joy FM and listening to some Sunday morning Praise music. Great to see a beautiful morning with the sunrise, the light fog, and the horse countryside all the while listening to some great music praising our creator! Really got in the right frame of mind and made my pace come much easier. Kept picking off other runners as I passed mile 5 and made the turnaround. Saw Kevin just after turning around at about the 5.25 mile mark and did not hear him or his friends anymore o figured he dropped back some. Feeling good and started to pick it up through miles 6 and 7 slowing down only to get water at the aid stops. Came up to mile 8 at 1:19:19 so ahead of schedule by running a 34:36 4 mile with a pace of 8:39. Kept right on going and decided to go for the "negative" split by trying to run the final set of 4 the fastest.

One point on the aid stations. I thought they were well positioned, well manned, well stocked with water/gatorade/gel, and very friendly. My only complaint is they had stated they would have fig newtons, but all the saw was oranges and bananas. I asked at a few when I came up to them, but they acted like they didn't know what they were. No biggie I just popped in my gel at mile 5 and 10. Brought my own since did not want to try something new on the course.

Could tell today was a good day as I kept the faster pace up through miles 9 and 10 and out on Hwy 475C/32nd then 42nd st. Big uphill and also big downhill and I made my way back to main road CR 475A/27th Ave. As I came up to mile 12 I knew I would be way ahead of the goal time for the day and now was looking at PR!! Passed my son cheering me on at mile 12 at 1:43:48 which made my last 4 mile set at 33:29 and a 8:22 pace. Went through the 3 sets of 4 miles in 8:56-8:39-8:22 paces. Never done that before.

My son helped bring me in riding his bike. Up to this point I had passed 15-25 runners after mile 2 and had not been passed by any except for the fast full marathon runners. Then my son stated "Here comes that guy."
What? Who? Then I heard Mister "I'm going to run about 2:15" Kevin yell out "Here I come." Yep here he came and there he went. The only one I can remember that passed me for the Half after mile 2 was Kevin around the 12.5 mile mark. Tried to keep pace, but he was a man on a mission. Did not want to spoil my finish so made sure to finish strong with a final mile of 8:14. Saw the clock time clicking up to 1:53 so kick it into high gear to cross at 1:52:58!!!!! PR BABY!!!

Results clock states 1:53:01, but I am going with my Garmin time. Got my negative split also by running first half in 59:11 and amazing the second half in 53:49!!. A great run and a PR also by Kevin--great job!!

Okay Kevin you got me this time, but I will be ready next time!!!

I will say thou they do have the BEST trophies I have seen anywhere. The horse trophies are replicas of the horse statues from around town. Very cool!! Maybe one day I can get one, but knew there was no way I would get one today since there are fast runners here. Finished in 8th place in my age group. Love the 3 inch medal also--TOP NOTCH!

                                           Hey at least I got to sit next to the overall trophies!!!

All in all a great day that started off in the low 50s and ended up in the middle 60s. A very hilly course

with allot of beauty to look at. Well organized, well staffed, and well held.

I would do this event again (especially since I would love to get a horse trophy), but I know what to expect from the Expo and will skip the dinner for sure!!