Dayton River Corridor Classic Half-Marathon

I had a sucky race this time in Dayton, for a variety of reasons but mostly maybe it just wasn't my day.

Previous Years at this Race

I have some fond memories of this race from previous years. It was one of the first half-marathons I ever raced. The first few years we did it, the start and finish was in downtown Dayton at a rather run-down convention center. The course was a mix of downtown Dayton and trail along the river. They even had a little expo where you could pick up anything you might have forgotten, and a pasta dinner for people who came in the night before.

One of the first years I did it, I remember that Bill Rodgers was there competing. I think it was the year he turned 50. This race even makes an appearance in sequel to the classic running novel, "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker, Jr. ("Again to Carthage" is the name of the book, if you are interested). Quenton Cassidy comes up to Dayton to compete in this race while he is training for the Olympic Marathon Trials. He beats Frank Shorter, but there are about 13 guys ahead of them. So this used to be quite a significant race, back in the day.

It's not what it used to be.

The course has changed multiple times in the past dozen years. There always seems to be some construction going on in the Dayton area that affects the course. There were a couple years where it started and finished at the Dayton Art Institute. The last few times I've done it, we started and finished at the University of Dayton arena. We usually go through a bit of the industrial area (which I have always enjoyed because it takes us by the Dayton Dog Training Club) before hitting the paved trail that runs along the river. One year I seem to remember that we made a foray into Carillon Park and had to run across a grassy field section that was not especially well-marked. We don't do that this year but you can see the carillon itself in the background of some of the pictures late in the race. (I won't be getting any of those pictures because they just make me think about how a woman with a gut that big cannot possibly be thinking she is going to qualify for Boston.)

This year we get on the trail a lot sooner and skip the industrial part (more about this later), which is undeniably more scenic but I am a little disappointed not to pass by the dog training club.

Pre-Race

Ok, so anyway, I left the house around 7 and got there around 8 for the 9 am start. Plenty of parking at the arena. No lines for the bathrooms, either. That is what makes this a good staging are. I pick up my number and shirt, but am surprised (as are many other people) to discover that there is no chip-timing. I guess they don't really need it but it's starting to seem so old-school not to have chip timing. Even my local 5k races have chip timing now.

The shirts are shortsleeved technical tops and the woman's one is hot pink. I ordered a medium but they give me a large, which I do not notice until I am back at the car but it looks like it runs kind of small so I decide not to try to exchange it. Apparently there was some kind of issue with the shirt sizing and distribution because I overheard a lot of people complaining.

The Dayton race was previously a pioneer in providing more interesting shirts than average, but I guess the rest of the racing world has finally caught up. The first few times I did this one we got sweatshirts, then there were a couple of years when we got windshirts, then longsleeved tech shirts, and the last time I was up here, we got a shortsleeved gray tech shirt, which I happened to be wearing for this race. I was also wearing my black cap from the Delaware marathon. I had a brief period of wondering if I was inviting bad luck by wearing these items. I had worn the Dayton shirt for Delaware and that a miserable day. I did kinda wish I had worn something brighter, because the gray shirt was bringing my spirits down on this overcast and dreary day.

I sat in the car for awhile. It was a bit chilly and extremely windy outside, and there was nowhere to sit down in the lobby of the arena. I wished I had brought a throwaway shirt or a thin jacket.

Lined up in the street with the rest of the runners and waited for the gun. Would have liked some pace signs but there were none so I just had to guess.

Confusion on the Course

Once we got running I warmed up pretty quick. We ran down the street as I remembered and made a turn and went over a bridge. But then all of a sudden we were on the trail, and that was interesting because I did not remember us hitting the trail that early. But I had expected the course to be different, since it always is! Not until we passed where I would have expected to see the first mile marker did I become increasingly concerned.

My GPS said we had gone a mile and I had run it in 8:05. Ohoh. That was not good. That was a minute faster than I should have been going. Would I pay for that later? I would. I started asking people about where the mile marker was and nobody seemed to know what was going on.

All of a sudden we came upon the mile 2 marker. Ohoh. At this point it was apparent that we had cut off about half a mile. In fact, the lead police vehicle had gotten confused and taken us the wrong way. But I didn't know this, so I was wondering if we were going to run a short course or if we were going to make it up somewhere along the way. And this bit of uncertainty, along with the fact that I had gone out way too fast,  conbined to detract from my performance in this race. Or that is my story and I am sticking with it.

As we continued along the path, I began to wonder when we were going to see an aid station. I had expected them roughly every two miles, but we were approaching the three mile marker (although in fact we had only run 2.5 miles) and we hadn't hit one yet. One finally appeared around 3.5 miles into the "official course" so I had a bunch of water and my first GU there. If I had known there would be no water until that far in I would have carried my own. This was another thing that affected me negatively, no doubt.

Rather than look at my splits based on where the mile markers appeared, I will just record the lap times from my GPS:
1) the aforementioned ridiculous 8:05
2) 8:20 (still too fast)
3) 8:34 (still too fast)

Somewhere in this early part of the race I caught up with a female race walker. She was really moving and it took me a bit to catch up with her. I had overheard some other people telling her she was amazing, and I stupidly decided to chime in on that, and her withering stare told me how it went over. Should have kept my mouth shut. I am just an asshole I guess. She was pretty serious, and I heard her tell a friend who was along side her how hard it was for her "not to race." I guess this was just a workout for her?

After mile three (or 2.5 as it were) my pace climbed. Not ridiculously high but higher than my goal. Higher than I would have expected. Higher than it needs to be if I wanted to place in the AG in this race, or expect to qualify for Boston in a couple of weeks:

4) 9:37
5) 9:17
6) 9:38
7) 9:11

I had my second GU at the aid station that was somewhere past mile 7, I think. I didn't have another later because of the placement of the aid stations, but I did take Gatorade a few times. Hmmm, maybe I needed that GU to get me through the last three miles. Worth pondering.

In the second half of this race we were running into the wind, and it was brutal.

8) 9:25
9) 9:41
10) 9:19

I ran up alongside a young woman in mile 7-8 or so. She seemed unaware of my existance and started to actually run me off the road! These zombies with their iPods are really getting ridiculous. So after that I stayed right behind her for a bit and used her to block the wind (she was on the wide side) until I had a chance to pass her outright.

The wind was making my nose run like crazy and it was quite unpleasant. Then late in the race I was running behind a pair of women who decided to farmer's blow their noses at the same time, and so I got hit with their snot. That was one of the more disgusting things that has ever happened to me in a race. So of course I had to pass them after that. Should have blown some snot on them too but I did not.

11) 9:57
12) 9:51

Those last couple miles were brutal. Flat but the wind was just ridiculous. Finally we made the turn down into the parking lot. I ran the last .1 miles in 43 seconds. My official time was 1:58:41, which included about 7 seconds to cross the start line.

The Aftermath

The race director apologized about the misdirection that cut the course off. He said they thought it was 12.66 miles, but I ended up with 12.8 on my GPS. In the second half of the race, it seemed like we picked up a couple of tenths along the way. So I guess if we had not cut off that part in the beginning maybe the course would have actually been long.

Post race, they had LaRosa's pizza, and pancakes. I went for the pancakes. They had this set up outside and the wind made obtaining and eating the pancakes a bit challenging. For some added fun, the pancake flippers were throwing the cakes in the air and you were supposed to catch them on your plate. That was just nuts. There were pancakes flying all over the place and landing on the ground. I finally got one on the third try, then I demanded the guy just lay some on my plate because catching them was too much work. I had my pancakes wrapped in sausage, and I had a little orange juice, and I checked my name in the results to verify that I had not won anything, then I changed my clothes in the bathroom and it was time to head for home.

In the end I was 9 of 29 woman in my age gorup and 266 of 579 runners overall (not sure where I placed among women).

I'll be back for this one again, but I won't be making it a priority. At this point it seems that the State-to-State race has definitely surpassed it in quality as a local half-marathon.