Coincidence, that is the only reason why I ran this race. I did
not even sign up for it. I signed up for another race on another date in
another place. I registered for inaugural Newport news half marathon by
Race13.1 group for 18th Oct with free race credit I had from volunteering in
their Richmond edition. The original Crawlin Crab race Half was scheduled for
4th Oct in Hampton, but rescheduled for 18th due to hurricane Joaquin. Due to
the clash and both cities being just 10 miles of each other, my planned race
lost many volunteers. They decided to cancel their race and merged with Crawlin
Crab. It was perfect for me. I got free entry in Crawlin Crab which was much
bigger race and double bling from both races and free...yes free race photos.
Race Day
 |
| Start line |
Hampton is just
1.5 hrs away from Richmond so I chose to drive early morning. I reached the
convention center to pick my bib with much time to spare. The race starts from
Hampton Convention center which has huge parking space, so parking was a non
issue.
The morning was
cold and windy, but I chose not to have any extra layers. Just like my marathon
last week, I had pace chart for 2:05 and 2:08 in my pocket so I could try for a
PR. I chose to stick with 2:00 pacer as next pacer was 2:15. The two 2:00 pacers
were in costumes. One in a beer keg costumes and other in Red crawlin Crab. I
just wanted to follow them for initial few miles and to keep my pace under
9:30.
The Race
 |
| 10K PR |
As the race
started I followed the pacers. The pace was like stroll in the park for two
pacers. They were joking around and having fun. For a mile I was close but then
the gap start increasing. I did not mind as I was at 9:15 pace, much faster
than needed. I wanted to keep this pace. I started following runners with
similar pace, which always work for me. I checked my pace chart at mile 4. I
was 2 minute ahead. The course was a loop around city of Hampton with
good number of turns. The roads were wide and flat for comfortable run. After
first 6 mile I was 0.1 mile extra. I crossed 10K at 58:16 which was my 10K PR. The cool part about this race is the Crab and Sea shell jokes organizers have placed all along the way. The first has the question (Why do mermaid wear Sea shells?) and the second has the answer (Because she outgrew her B-shells). Many of them made me smile.
 |
| Beautiful miles |
The next few miles
were beautiful. Blue water on one side, and beautiful well maintained
houses on the other. In mile 9 we took a left turn and the now we were back on
the usual streets. I maintained my good pace for long, but now I was getting
tired. I touched almost 10. I tried to pace better in next mile but could only
bring it to 9:42. I still had 2 min gain over my PR pace. The route was
flat except the two overpasses in mile 11 and 13, which was like a mild
up-slope. Mile 12 took us back to the way we came in for the final mile. Words
of encouragement were being shouted from big speakers. I just took a small sip
of water at last water stop.
 |
| The sign at finish party |
When I ran at
slower paces I found many runners walking in mile 13, but that was not the case
here. Most of the runners increase their pace. I did too. Just before mile 13
marker we took a turn and I could see the finish line in quarter of a mile. I
ran as hard I could. I crossed the finish line and looked at my GPS. It
was 2:06:30. My official time was 2:06:25.
I improved my half marathon time by 2:03mins. I got double bling, one
from Crawlin Crab and other from Race 13.1. The crab soup and beer at finish
line were wonderful, after which I drove back to Richmond.
 |
| Double Bling day |
The MTT season has
been great for me till now. I improved my 5K PR twice, half marathon three
times and marathon once. Now my focus is on my target ,Richmond marathon on Nov
14th.
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