Monday, May 4, 2015

Gateway to the Smokies half marathon

This race was on my list after I heard about it at the Blue Ridge Breakaway last year (both are put on by the Haywood County Chamber), but I was a little undecided about doing it so soon after the SMR, plus it was the same day as a few other events I was considering (plus a baby shower I was hosting that evening). But then my friend Keribeth asked about races people we doing and I mentioned this one. She had done a half marathon a week ago, so we decided it was just crazy enough to go for it. Plus, see how pretty the logo is? Good logo = good shirts and medals. :)


I really can't tell you much about the course except that it was beautiful but also hilly. Oh, and it was freezing at the start. I got off to a pretty quick start and then found out I was the third female around mile 2. I hadn't really planned to push it, but then I figured, why not? I passed the second female on a pretty steep hill and spent most of the rest of the race hoping no girls would pass me. The volunteers were great, and like I said, the scenery was beautiful, so I really just enjoyed it. There were a few out and back sections that let me see that the first place female was unreachable and to cheer for everyone.

The course starts on Main Street in Waynesville and has some climbing at the beginning in a loop around Waynesville Country Club. After mile 3 or so there's a nice downhill section into Hazelwood and a big loop around the countryside. Around mile 7 I was starting to feel really rough, just in time for the biggest hills up to mile 9ish. Thankfully, after the top of that climb I got to cheer for some fellow runners as I headed down and it was mostly flat after that except for the hill up above the elementary school. The finish was in historic Frog Level, which has been revitalized lately and is the home of a lot of the breweries in Waynesville (which provided a free beer to finishers). 

I was pretty pumped to (finally) see the finish!



I finished at 1:42:06 by my watch for a new half marathon PR, which is even more awesome because this course had 1020 feet of climbing and my previous PR was at the Cherokee Harvest Fest half, which only has 495 feet of climbing. :) 

AND, I had held on to 2nd place female for another pretty medal and a FootRx gift certificate. 



There was a decent finish area expo for a race this size (and I scored a new pair of running shoes for $50) and post-race food was excellent too - bagels with cream cheese, Bojangles biscuits, pizza and breadsticks, and all the fruit you could eat. I really loved the atmosphere of this race.

Haywood County did an excellent job with this inaugural event and I definitely plan to be back in the future!

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