Medina Half Marathon

Saturday, May 25, I ran the Medina Half Marathon.  It was a practice for the inaugural Medina Half Marathon in 2014, so it was free.  FREE, People.  I can't pass that up!

I put a call out to my Medina peeps, begging them to acknowledge me some way, ANY way on the course.  This was only my second half marathon, and I haven't put in ten miles in a few weeks, so if you want to call that a taper, be my guest.

The Good:  There is so much to write here!  The course covered many different Medina neighborhoods plus some trail running around Lake Medina, which is gorgeous.

This is Lake Medina.  Photo Credit:  Christa Hammontree

This is me when I pretend to be happy on a trail.  This is David, who is probably wishing he could tape my mouth shut. Photo credit:  Dan DeRosha

I also especially liked the neighborhood supporters around mile 11.  There was lots of chalk art, cowbells, and little kids cheering, and believe me, at mile 11 it is VERY welcome.  Thank you, Medina people!

Runners is the craziest!  Photo credit:  Tracy Thomas

The Bad:  Because this is a free practice race, some of the  route was diverted to sidewalks, which I don't like.  Sidewalks make me very nervous; remember--seven years of orthodontia.  I am assuming that this won't be the case next year.  Also, the race finished on a brick road with an incline to the finish line.  I was worried about falling (David DID fall), and the hill demoralized me, so I couldn't kick it to the end.

The Ugly:  Ummmm. . .the hill was disheartening, but what REALLY demoralized me was when a runner PUSHING A STROLLER passed me on the bricks and left me in the dust.  He was having a conversation as he did it.  Stroller-Man, I hate you.  Also, while most of the Medinians were absolutely fantastic (the crowd at the finish was great, too!), there were some REALLY angry drivers who did not hesitate to express their opinions of us via the finger, horn blowing, scowls, etc.  When a runner next to me thanked a driver who was stopped in a queue as we passed, he responded, "OH WHATEVER."  Huh.

Overall, this was a great race, AND I PR'd by 3 and a half minutes!  I already signed up for next year's inaugural race (the medal is going to be suh-weet!) for only thirty dollars.  Pretty soon Medina Half Marathon will be offering entries starting at forty dollars.  I encourage you to take advantage of this rate.

The best thing of all about the race was running it with my peeps.  Thank you to everyone, especially The Ohio Runner's Network.

This is how I look BEFORE I run 13.1 miles.