I try to learn from my mistakes, so unlike last year I put plenty of bottles of Gatorade and water in my car last night. I arrived at the Frederick Fairgrounds at 5:30am, quickly parked, and breezed through picking up my bib. This year the first 200 runners to pre-register were given the option to pick up their bibs on-site on race day. Given my crazy hours at work this week, I was super-thankful for that option. I caught the end of the pre-race law enforcement orientation meeting while putting on my bib and was blown away by how many officers were working the race. They, along with volunteers, are who make races like this possible and I am extremely grateful for their hard work and enthusiasm.
I had plenty of time to kill and it was chilly out, so I retreated to my car and played with my phone until it was time to go. I got to the start line just in time for the national anthem and "Sweet Caroline" (their tribute to Boston) before we took off. One thing I love about Frederick is how small the field is - the entire staging area was less than a block long! The photo below was taken standing around people planning on finishing in 2:15 - I've yet to run another race where this pace group is so close to the start line.
At 7am sharp we were off. Within a mile and a half the road opened up and I had plenty of space to run in.
It stayed like that the rest of the race. Unfortunately, I don't have any more photos.
I decided to run this race listening to my legs and they were speaking pretty quickly. At multiple points in the race my brain tried to take over, telling my legs to slow down, but they never listened for long. As I blew by mile markers (all of which had clocks - a huge plus), I had to double-check the times on my Garmin. My split at mile 8 was 1:12:37 - 9:05 minute miles. I had my doubts about whether or not I could maintain that pace for the entire race, but I was feeling great and figured I'd try my best.
I forgot how hilly the last 5 miles of this course are, but tried to push through without slowing down too much. I started getting tired around mile 11 and talked myself in to running one more mile before re-evaluating my strategy. With 12 miles down I realized that, if I kept running, a PR was almost definite and a sub-2:00:00 race (a long-term goal of mine) was a very strong possibility. With that knowledge I pushed my tired legs up the last hill and around the race track. I usually sprint the final stretch of every race, but I just didn't have it in me this morning. I finished in 2:00:26 - tauntingly close to my 2:00:00 goal.
Running Frederick means a very early wake-up call; I wouldn't get up this early for just any race. The Frederick Half walks the thin line between being run like large race, but having a smaller, manageable field. Per the official results, there were shy of 3,600 finishers - thousands less than the other 10+ mile races I've completed. It really is the best of both worlds - I had as much (or more) space as I would running a local 5k, but the amenities and spectators of a race 3x this size. Despite this course being hilly, it's fast, and the Frederick Fairgrounds are a great place to start and finish a race. If anyone is debating this race next year, I highly recommend it. I'll definitely be there.
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