A week later, I’m just now writing my Cap City Half Marathon race review. A chest cold knocked me down for the past seven days, time which has all been spent either working, sleeping, or coughing. I haven’t run since last Sunday (my eight-month run streak ended), but I wanted to spend some time to go back over the Cap City Half Marathon. The race organizers put on incredible event, and I loved everything about it except my own performance.
I was excited to be a race ambassador for the Cap City Half Marathon. Because I had not run the race before, everything I knew about Cap City was secondhand. Last year, weather forced an unfortunate mid-race shutdown that led to some chaos. Many runners didn’t finish. Even after such a disastrous year, almost every comment I heard about Cap City was positive.
I stopped by the race expo on Friday afternoon and loved what I saw. My Fleet Feet + FrontRunner coworkers did an incredible job working with the Cap City staff to create an incredible expo experience. Incredible organization, quick and easy race bib and shirt pickup locations, tons of gear for sale with custom shirt options, the list could go on and on.
I’ve been to a lot of race expos, and Cap City was one of the best I’ve seen (the location had a great intimate but open feel as well, instead of the typical florescent industrial feel of big-race pickups). It felt more like a big wedding reception and not like an assembly plant.
With a brand new course and a good weather forecast, I was pumped up for race day.
The prerace logistics were great for me. If I could give anyone advice for future years, it’s to live downtown. My apartment is a block away from the start/finish line. I was able to leave for a nice three-mile warmup loop at 7:20 a.m. and still arrive at the starting line with plenty of time to stretch out before the race started at 8 a.m.
As we lined up and listed to the national anthem, I was shocked at how many people were around. I knew Cap City was a large race, but it felt way more like a big-city marathon than I had expected. Thousands were in the corrals (lined up for the quarter marathon, the half marathon, and then the 5K runners in the back).
The clock started, and I tried to sink into race-pace rhythm. The course starts out headed south from downtown into German Village. After a small loop, we turned to head back north through downtown. As soon as I turned back north, a strong wind hit me in the face. I don’t know if it was PTSD after Boston or not, but I immediately thought about ditching and walking back to the starting line.
It was crazy how fast my mind wanted me to drop out. I wasn’t ready to race. My plan was to go into the race with tired legs to simulate the second half of a full. I had executed that plan far too well. I ran a lot Wednesday through Friday, including 20 miles total Friday, which left my legs dead for Cap City. And when I asked those legs to power through, they didn’t respond well.
At the 5K split, I was close to the pace I wanted to run for the entire 13.1. But I slowed down from there. Going into Boston, I was expecting horrendous weather. I knew the rain and wind was going to be in my face the entire way. For Cap City, the forecast had looked perfect for days. I wasn’t mentally prepared for adversity, and the wind in my face broke my spirit completely.
The course runs north, all the way through the Ohio State campus, before turning to go back south to downtown. I was never happier to turn left than at mile eight, when we finally got the wind at our backs and a slight downhill. My pace dropped back down for a few miles, and I regained some rhythm.
It’s funny how the same pace can feel completely different based on circumstances. It felt impossible to run at goal pace headed north, but as soon as I had the wind behind me, I became angry that I had slowed down so much.
With my ultimate time goals out of reach quickly, I had to fight to stay motivated in the final miles. Breaking 1:22 became my new goal. I missed that by 14 seconds, but I didn’t walk off the course like my brain wanted me to.
My official time was 1:22:14, which is a technical PR. I’ve run faster (the first half split at Boston this year was 1:19:24), but in a standalone half, the Cap City Half Marathon is now my fastest ever. On tired legs, and just two weeks after Boston beat me up badly, I’m pleased with the result.
As soon as I finished I had to hustle to shower and make it to work. I wasn’t able to enjoy the postrace party in the Columbus Commons (which looked like a lot of fun).
Even fighting the wind, I loved the course. You get to see beautiful areas of Columbus, and it has some nice rolling hills. The finish was slightly uphill, but it wasn’t terrible. The crowd support was incredible. People were shouting out runners names with specific encouragement (most people had their names printed on their race bibs). The finish-line energy was phenomenal.
To anyone considering running the Cap City Half Marathon in the future: sign up. This is a great event with incredible organization. Whether it will be your first half marathon or your 100th, Cap City won’t disappointed.
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