Viking Half Marathon

Half Marathon #35

At the very last minute, I decided to run the Viking Half Marathon in Greenwood, Mississippi.  The weather was predicted to be cool and it looked like a flat course.  The overwhelming pull was I felt it would be my last opportunity for a cool weather half.  Yeah...I live in the south.  This would give also me a new state. Woo-Hoo!

We have a big project going on at our house so I made the drive alone.  It was VERY long and VERY boring.  I barely made it to packet pickup Friday night at The Alluvian (which advertises itself as a cosmopolitan boutique hotel --- whatever that means).  Luckily, they had a cancellation and I was able to get a room without being excessively gouged.  I have to say, it was a very nice hotel. 

The movie The Help was filmed in Greenwood.  It is a quaint small town built along the river.  Some of the streets are still paved with bricks.  You'll see no tall buildings in this city!   There are many old fashioned storefronts and the race started right in front of the old courthouse.

I enjoyed crossing the bridge!  (Photo from Viking Half Marathon website)

The course began by winding around through the downtown area, which is not large by any means.  The brick streets were a little tricky.  You had to really pay attention!  We then ran through beautiful neighborhoods and a few times right along the river.  Crossing and re-crossing the river was my favorite part.  It was definitely a flat course.

It was a chilly 38 degrees and a little breezy at the start.  I began well, but in hindsight probably too fast.  Around mile 5, I got that "uh-oh I'm out of gas" feeling.   I slowed and kept running.  I hoped maybe I could pull out a couple of fast miles at the end.  That didn't happen.  My left foot cramped a while but it wasn't fatal.  I got my dreaded shoulder stitch (more accurately a sharp pain under my collar bone) for the entire last mile.  I'm very grateful it didn't start any sooner.  But, neither of those things affected my time.

There was little crowd support.  There were (what felt like) a hundred turns and the traffic volunteers and those manning the many water stops were just about all the Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah we got.  However, some were very enthusiastic.  One lady was in everyone's face yelling YOU BETTER MOVE IT.  Yes ma'am!  She was crazy scary.

The after party was different with hot tamales and fried catfish, which was actually very good, among the typical fare.  Although I will probably never make that drive again, it was a well done smaller race and simply oozed southern charm.   If you are in the general area or need to run in Mississippi, it will not disappoint.

Compared to the ribbon, the bottle opener medal is quite small.

I ended with a 2:07:12 gun time finish.  Meh.  I admit for a while, I felt somewhat disappointed and frustrated. This one bothered me more than the last few. Yes, I completely understand some would be thrilled with that.   But, I'm simply comparing this to my own faster times from last winter.   It's a little hard to swallow that I continue to run slower.  I had loads of time to analyze this on the long drive home.

It boils down to one thing...I've run 7 half marathons in 70 days. {Holy Freakin' Cow.  How did I pull that off?}  Am I expecting too much out of myself?  Probably.  One of these days, I will pick a goal race, train like nobody's business, and smash my PR.  Until then, I own my multiple half marathon madness...my mediocrity...my middle of the road (pun very much intended).

Does anyone else experience pain under their collar bone?

How about half marathon madness?

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