Potomac River Run Half Marathon

On Sunday I completed my 5th Half Marathon!!! The Potomac River Run Half and Full Marathon took place along the C&O Canal and the Potomac River near Carderock, MD. It was a gorgeous tree-lined race, that had water on both sides for much of the race. The path was packed dirt/gravel, which made it a little different than running on road, but as I have some trail running experience, it didn’t really bother me. I thought the scenery was beautiful, and that kept my energy up for a lot of the wayThe course was an out and back. I used 2:1 intervals, with an average pace of 12:07. I don’t have a gps watch, so I mostly just run my pace by feel, and an occasional message from my RunKeeper. Looking at my pace, I find it interesting that miles 1 and 13 had the same pace, and miles 2 and 4 had the same pace. Those were the same stretch of course! I was starting out easy as to not get tired too quickly, but by mile 11 I was getting pretty tired from the heat (my legs felt great though). By the way: I don’t know how the 8am start marathoners finished this race in the heat!!!

Apparently I felt awesome at miles 6-8 and 10-11. I felt pretty good for the majority of the race. It just started to get hot, and parts of the course were not shaded, so I got a bit dehydrated, despite drinking at all the water stops, and drinking the nuun that I brought on my belt. My calves got a bit tired towards the end, but I was relatively pain free for this entire run, which was a big change from my last 1/2 in March.

I would do this race again. They have it twice a year. The next one is in November where it will be cooler. Does anyone want to join me?