This morning I ran the Riley's Rumble Half Marathon, part of the low-key race series put on by the Montgomery County Road Runner Club. I joined the club last Monday, and this is the first event that I've attended. I am looking forward to training with them and running more local races!
Riley's Rumble starts at the Germantown Soccerplex, which is a short walk from my house. It does a loop within the park, and then veers off into the countryside. The course is hilly; a lot of rolling hills, with some longer climbs. There are two turnarounds, and the last couple of miles has the longest and hardest climb.
Here's the elevation profile of the course. That bit at mile 11 was the toughest.
My pre-race breakfast was French toast, salted watermelon, and a big glass of iced coffee. I also munched on an energy bar and two fig newtons when I was waiting for the race to start.
Waiting in line for the port-a-potties. For the second time.
Waiting for the 7am start...
Riley's Rumble is supposed to be tough because it's hilly and takes place at the most hot and humid times of the year. We lucked out today, though, and enjoyed a beautiful start in the low 60's. I was actually shivering at the starting line! It felt amazing running through the shaded roads.
Since I ran this without a goal in mind, I planned on just going with the flow. The first few miles were mostly downhill, so I breezed through them. I caught up with a pack of people, and decided to keep pace with them. I basically stayed with them the entire race, though they pulled away a bit near the end. The race didn't feel hard until climbing those last few hills.
Riley's is the first really local half marathon that I've ran. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun! Some highlights were:
1) The signs along the road- the MCRRC have a great sense of humor. There was a large BATHROOMS sign at mile 8, pointing to the woods. They also wrote funny things on the road near the end, like "THE TOP" on one of the hills (like the 6th to last hill), and "WHO IS RILEY ANYWAYS?" and "AND WHY DOES HE HATE ME?". Haha, these were pretty entertaining.
2) Speaking of entertaining, the most random thing I saw at around mile 9 was a guy dressed up in a dinosaur suit (and running shoes!) who ran up the hill with us, and a half-naked guy in a cowboy hat with a sign that said something like, "You're too sexy to be in this race"!
3) At mile 8.42 (haha there was a sign), there were delicious Sqweeze ice pops! I wanted grape, but got a cherry one instead. Oh well, anything frozen and yummy at that point felt refreshing.
Riley's Rumble starts at the Germantown Soccerplex, which is a short walk from my house. It does a loop within the park, and then veers off into the countryside. The course is hilly; a lot of rolling hills, with some longer climbs. There are two turnarounds, and the last couple of miles has the longest and hardest climb.
Here's the elevation profile of the course. That bit at mile 11 was the toughest.
Waiting in line for the port-a-potties. For the second time.
Waiting for the 7am start...
Chilling with my bro. We started together, but didn't stay together for long. I saw him twice on the turnarounds and then jogged back after I finished to cheer him on. He finished about 9 minutes after I did.
Riley's Rumble is supposed to be tough because it's hilly and takes place at the most hot and humid times of the year. We lucked out today, though, and enjoyed a beautiful start in the low 60's. I was actually shivering at the starting line! It felt amazing running through the shaded roads.
Since I ran this without a goal in mind, I planned on just going with the flow. The first few miles were mostly downhill, so I breezed through them. I caught up with a pack of people, and decided to keep pace with them. I basically stayed with them the entire race, though they pulled away a bit near the end. The race didn't feel hard until climbing those last few hills.
Riley's is the first really local half marathon that I've ran. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun! Some highlights were:
1) The signs along the road- the MCRRC have a great sense of humor. There was a large BATHROOMS sign at mile 8, pointing to the woods. They also wrote funny things on the road near the end, like "THE TOP" on one of the hills (like the 6th to last hill), and "WHO IS RILEY ANYWAYS?" and "AND WHY DOES HE HATE ME?". Haha, these were pretty entertaining.
2) Speaking of entertaining, the most random thing I saw at around mile 9 was a guy dressed up in a dinosaur suit (and running shoes!) who ran up the hill with us, and a half-naked guy in a cowboy hat with a sign that said something like, "You're too sexy to be in this race"!
3) At mile 8.42 (haha there was a sign), there were delicious Sqweeze ice pops! I wanted grape, but got a cherry one instead. Oh well, anything frozen and yummy at that point felt refreshing.
The water stations were also well-place, in my opinion. There were stations at approximately mile 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11 that had water and Gatorade.
My clock time was 1:54. Not bad for a hilly race, which is a good sign for my Philly RnR Half Marathon, since the elevation profile is a lot flatter.
Post-race, there was cookies, Powerbars, watermelon, oranges, water, and Gatorade. I had 4 slices of watermelon and a bottle of water before walking back home. at home, I split a young coconut with my brother. Yummy :)
And then I spent some quality time with my foam roller. Ah, it hurts so good ;)
And now it's time to go get some tacos :P
