Race Report: City of Peoria Half Marathon

This year’s shirt design.

Pretty cool, right?

This past Sunday, I participated in the annual City of Peoria Half Marathon.  This is my second year running the race, and it’s super convenient for us, since it’s held on the pedestrian path that runs along the wash right outside our neighborhood.  The start and finish of the race is at Rio Vista Park, which is only 4.5 miles (one way) from our house on the path, so although we could technically bike to the start, we normally end up driving, as we’re tired enough afterward to make riding home a painful endeavor.

From the start, the course heads south on the New River Trail through a set of smaller rolling hills, crossing through the wash around the 2 mile mark, and then looping back to the park on the other side of the wash.  This is also the loop that the City of Peoria uses for most of its 4 mile runs, so racers doing the 4 mile distance peeled off at this point and headed across the bridge to the park, then through to the finish line.  Those of us in the half marathon distance continued north, past the bridge.

The path stays nice and wide, allowing for plenty of traffic to pass in both directions, which is a good thing.  Since the path meanders behind several neighborhoods, it is normally packed with people getting their morning exercise and enjoying the nice weather; add in the traffic associated with even a smaller half marathon, and the width of the path is a godsend.  Since the wash is right next to the path (albeit down an embankment of 15-20 feet), I often see coyotes, quail, roadrunners, and other assorted wildlife* on my training runs, although the number of folks on the path for the half marathon scared them back into hiding.

OH MY GOD,

why are you runners so loud?!?!?!

The path stays wide as it approaches Bell Road, and if the weather conditions are right (which they were on Sunday), you can smell the fresh popcorn cooking across the 101 freeway at the Harkins movie theater.**  After going through the underpass at Bell Road, the path narrows a bit to the size of a normal sidewalk, and the route goes past a few car dealerships and collision shops.***  From there, the path continues north with a double underpass at 83^rd Avenue and Union Hills, and once again at Beardsley. 

After Beardsley, the path turns to a natural, unpaved trail for about ½ mile, and then it goes back to being paved as it heads north toward Deer Valley Road.  That’s where I found Chris, who walked the whole .15 mile from the house to the path to take pictures and give me high-fives.

Here I come, about to pass this guy!

Thanks, honey!

The turnaround point for the half marathon was right before the Deer Valley Road underpass, so after saying hi to Chris again, I was heading back south toward the park and eventually, through the finish line. 

Overall, I didn’t do quite as well as I wanted; I knew I wasn’t in the best shape after being sick three weeks prior, so I was aiming for a 2 hour finish, which would have been just a bit slower than consistent 9:00 miles (and a good 7 minutes slower than my current PR).  I probably went out a bit too fast in the first few miles, clocking 8:45s or so; around miles 5-7, I was able to maintain my planned 9:00s, but after that, I slowed down further, from 9:15 to 9:30 and then to 9:45s or so after the turnaround point.  I hit the wall around mile 10.5, feeling super nauseous and having to take a few walk breaks to get things under control.  At mile 11.5 or so, I felt well enough to jog it out and pushed as hard as I could for the final mile.  I ended up being just over my goal, finishing with a time of 2:00:50, sixth in my age group, and the 13^th woman overall.  Not too shabby, but not my best.

I don’t think I have another race longer than a 10K coming up in the next few months, so I’m planning to focus on staying healthy and increasing my speed, using a series of shorter, faster workouts.  Once I have a marathon on the calendar for the fall, I’ll work on building endurance back up, hopefully not getting sick in the meantime.  Fingers crossed!

Later!

Amy

* Chris once saw a pair of javelina up on the path.  Thankfully, he was on his bike and could get out of the way quickly.  You don’t want to face those dudes without the ability to dash away, if needed.

** Since the path runs by lots of neighborhoods, on morning long runs, I normally come home craving bacon, having smelled everyone’s weekend brunch fixins for the past two hours.  Noms.

*** If you want a clean Honda Odyssey, buy one from Larry Miller.  They wash their minivans like EVERY DAY.