We were in wave F, near the back, which meant we started about fifteen minutes after the first runners. Once we finally got to the start line and began the race, I warmed up considerably and really enjoyed the race.
I decided I was going to stay with my wife this race, as opposed to taking off without her like I did last year at the Nashville half marathon. I really had a good time running with her. We matched paces pretty well, and while I sometimes got ahead of her while I was running, I always slowed my walk down and she caught up to me on our walk breaks.
I was doing very well until around mile 8.5, when my energy levels started flagging. I wasn't in any pain at this point, but could tell I was gettinb very tired. I pushed it aside and kept going, but around mile 11 the pain started to set in. My right knee was aching a bit, and my right foot was sore, which is still the case today.
The knee was no big deal to me. I've dealt with knee pain my whole life, and this was nothing new. I could tell it was nothing to worry about, and sure enough, after I had a chance to sit down for a little while, the knee felt fine.
I think my foot was due to my new running shoes. I never had this problem with my old shoes, and I had the same issue in the exact same area of my foot on my first run in these shoes, which was only 3 miles. The more I've run in my new shoes, the less foot issues I've had, but this was my longest run in them to date, so I'm hoping the pain will fade and , as I get more used to the shoes, the pain will eventually never come back.
We walked alot the last two miles, as we were both sore and out of energy, but still managed some short runs. We ran across the finish line together and got out medals. Our overall finish time was 3:08:20.
This is the first time I've done this race, although I've spectated it a few times, and it's a very well-managed race. If you're looking for a good first half, this is one you should consider. It's not exactly flat, but nothing is in Kansas City, and this is one of the flatter courses in the area. The course is picturesque and I was happy it wasn't located in the downtown area, simply because Ward Parkway is easier to get to than downtown.
My wife and I are doing the Heartland 39.3 series this year, which is a series of three half marathons over the course of six weeks. Rock the Parkway this weekend was the first, and the Garmin half next Saturday is the second, followed by Running With the Cows on May 14th. We'll see how the Garmin goes next week. Neither my wife nor I have ever done two half marathons on back-to-back weekends before.
I know this site's been dead for a long time. I got really busy with overtime at work last year and typically had to make a choice between training, spending time with my wife or updating here. It wasn't even a choice as to which got cut. After the overtime finally cooled down, I didn't want to start updates again with simple trainer workouts, so decided to wait until I could the race reflection on Rock the Parkway. I don't know if I'm going to do posts for every workout, especially since it's early in the year and my biking posts would read "I did half an hour on the trainer and it felt good," but I'm going to try to update at least weekly with how my workouts that week went. I've also got a two or three equipment reviews in the hopper that I'll write up and post over the next week or two.
The medal from Rock the Parkway
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