Ohio Health Capital City Half Marathon Race Report

May 5, 2016 / Nicole Huston
Updated Mar 2, 2020

Race Info

Location: Columbus, Ohio
Date: April 30th, 2016
Distances: 1/2, 1/4, 5k
People: 14,000-15,000
Race Website

Expo

This expo seemed similar to the Columbus marathon to me. You could go in and out quickly or stick around and wander the booths. I had some time to kill so I wandered around and got some samples of free sunscreen and also did end up buying a singlet from the official merch area. Leading up to the expo they only advertised t-shirts, which was disappointing as I rarely purchase t-shirts these days because I have so many race shirts. On the contrary, I still have room for more singlets at my house.

Parking

This was a big race so you did have to get there early. That being said, it was immensely better than I had expected. I parked in a key card only garage and walked to the start from there.

Pre Race

Last week I ran the Pro Football HOF marathon. Because of this, I had no idea what I was going to run so I was jumping back and forth from the start of corral B to around the 1:50 pace group before the start. If well-rested, I would have lined up somewhere ahead of the 1:45 group in corral A. By the start, I ended up right in front of the 1:50 pace group and figured I'd run with the pace group in a few miles once everything became more spaced out. I hate running behind pacers early in races because I always feel like 60% of my effort is going into trying not to trip over or step on the person in front of me and only 40% is going to running. It bothers me so I avoid it and I believe I race better because of it.

Race Start to 1/4 Marathon Turn Off

This section was mostly downhill or flat. I tried not to start off too fast and remember that this was supposed to be an easy run for me.

1/4 Marathon Turn Off to Campus

At this point I'm starting to realize I don't think the pacers are that close behind me. With a while left in the race, I made a mental note that I should slow it down a bit. Through campus was uphill initially but this was hard to notice with all the crowds and excitement.

Downtown to Schiller Park

Now I was starting to regret signing up for this race. My legs felt like lead and weren't loosening up. They seemed to be getting heavier instead. I reminded myself that I was only really here to support my mom who was running her first half marathon. (And she didn't want me to run with her because she thought it would be intimidating.) Next, I ran past my cosmetology school at Columbus Downtown High School. There was a place I hadn't been to in a while… It was a welcomed distraction from my sore legs and probably the highlight of the course for me. In addition to being late in the race, this section also had fewer spectators which made it feel harder.

Miles 10 to 12

Too many uphills in these miles. With the miles ticking away, I cranked out the remaining hills, passing a fair amount of people.

Mile 12 to Finish

This felt like the longest mile(+.1) I've ran in a long time. There was a quick downhill but it was short lived. As soon as I went down I went right back up what seemed to be an even bigger hill to the finish. My legs still felt awful. I just wanted to be done so I could stop thinking about how sore my legs felt.

Final Time: 1:47:32

I knew going into this race that it'd be a rough one for me. The plan was just to push myself enough for a nice effort run but nothing overboard knowing the shape my legs were in from the previous week. The week leading up to the race, I imagined the 1:50 pace group passing me around the middle of the race and maybe even the 1:55 pace group towards the end. I would have still been ok with my race if I ended up slowing dramatically in the second half and was truly expecting it. My extremely loose goal was anywhere around 1:50-1:53 with the backup goal that I finished somewhere under 2 hours. Mission accomplished and even a bit faster than I expected. My mom came in right under 2:19. She thought from her training that she'd finish around 2:30 so this was awesome for her. It would have been nice to have another mat somewhere on the course closer to the finish to track her. I had her 5 mile split but was just sitting at the finish line with no idea how the last 8 miles were going.

Finish Line Party

After the long walk through the finish corral you had to walk down STAIRS to get to the finish line party. Pure evil. That's about where my complaints end. I snagged beer, wine, pizza, and chocolate milk.