Finally getting around to reviewing this race. If you read my previous blog posts, then you know that back in 2012, this was my very first half marathon race….and it didn’t go well. The story has been told before HERE , but basically I winded up in the emergency room. So even though I have run many half marathons since 2012 and even some marathons, this first race was like a black cloud over my head. I will be both reviewing the race as an event as well as telling you how it went for me.

I headed down to Nags Head with my family to run this race again and bury this hatchet for good. There was really only one concern going into this: my foot was injured from karate about one month prior to the race. I iced and took Advil almost up to the day of the race.

Seeing the beach is nice, even in November. I did mange to get my jeans wet up to my knees, accidentally.

The race is well organized and a good size – not too large or small. The expo was decent with vendors and packet pickup was fine.  The packet pickup included a knit hat and of course, a tech t-shirt.  Getting to the race on race morning was pretty easy.  Some roads are closed, but walking a couple blocks wasn’t a problem and actually it was a nice slow warm up for me.   There were plenty of essentials available, such as Port-A-Johns, with little to no lines.

Waiting to move up to the starting line.

Once the race started, I was having some deja view, thinking back to the time before that didn’t go so well.  But it was short-lived, as my focus became more on how my foot was doing.  I was also watching my pace starting out very closely.  For the first 2-3 miles, I followed a pacer group, but it seemed like they are going slower than I wanted to go, even for pacing, so I went ahead of them and never saw that group again.  Considering I had to run with an injured foot, I couldn’t have been much happier about the outcome.   I passed people in the final miles that had passed me earlier in the race, and I barely reflected on where my race ended last time (at mile 13!) when I reached that point.  I just turned the corner and then dug in to the finish line.   My goal was to be under 2 hours if the foot allowed, and I had a time of 1:57:13, which was good enough to place me 212/1063 finishers.  My foot held up through the race, but definitely was swollen and hurt some afterwards.

The post race was excellent – the BBQ, beer, and music was so great!  I considered that my breakfast, and then went to Awful Arthurs for wings, beer, and some shrimp.

Despite my outcome in 2013, this time went much better, and now that I have seen it from packet pickup to post race,   I highly recommend this race.  Compared to the many others I’ve done, this one, with the post race food, etc., should be on the bucket list.  Plus, it’s at the beach too.

My rating:  4.80/5 stars