Race Report: OBX Half-Marathon
“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.” - T.S. Eliot
One of the joys of this year's Tri to End Homelessness campaign has been seeing how it has inspired other new endurance athletes to try something new. On November 11, I had the pleasure of joining my dear friend Carly in running her first half-marathon - the Outer Banks Half - nearly five years to the day since Rachel and I began our endurance sports careers with the running of the Raleigh Half-Marathon.
My intentions for the race were to (1) support Carly and help her run a negative split; (2) stay incredibly positive and cheer on other runners; and (3) focus on my form throughout the entirety of the race.
The flat race course ran along the barrier island chain off the coast of North Carolina - from Nags Head to Manteo. Although the morning started off a bit windy and cool, the overall weather could not have been better. This second running of the OBX Half was well organized and very well supported - volunteers in costumes, neighbors cheering from their porches, great snacks and free beer at the finish line -- what more could you ask for!? We even got a glimpse of Genesis Home Director of Development Shannon looking strong at mile 21 of full marathon.
Carly had what I would call a perfect first race: solid negative split pacing, success in meeting her goal times, and a challenging enough finish to let her know that she'd truly done something special. Pictures from the day can be found HERE.
According to our official race stats below, we passed 175 runners between the first and second half of the race - many on the one big hill of the course! All those hill repeats really do pay off.
- There were 246 finishers in the Female 25 to 29 age group and 2172 finishers in the 1/2 Marathon Division.
- Your overall finish place was 1314, your age group finish place was 158 and your gender finish place was 663.
- Your time was 2:23:08.40 giving you an overall pace of 10:56 per mile.
- Your 6.9 Mile split time was 1:17:40.95, Giving you a pace of 11:15 per mile, Overall place 1489, Gender place 777.
- Your Finish split time was 1:05:27.45, Giving you a pace of 10:33 per mile, Overall place 1314, Gender place 663
My race was one of reflection on where I started in this endurance journey -- from not being able to run for 3 minutes at a time, to completing my first half-marathon, to completing one 5 years later just for fun in the name of celebrating friendship. Thanks, Carly!
