Greater St. Louis Half-Marathon (St. Louis County, Missouri)

Some months ago, I decided to get myself back in shape. Since the new year, I've been eating very healthily and running regularly. One of my goals was to get back to running half-marathons in non-embarrassing times and the first one I signed up for was the Greater St. Louis Half-Marathon. I grew up on the Illinois side of the river about twenty miles north of downtown, but when I asked, I just claim St. Louis as my home town. That being said, this will sort of be a homecoming. 

On Thursday night, I drove up north of Nashville after work and then finished the drive on Friday morning. I did stop to visit some family as I passed through Kentucky, which I don't do often enough. After arriving in St. Louis on Friday afternoon, I picked up my bib and checked into my hotel, which is just across the street from Busch Stadium, where I'll be joining an old friend to see the Cardinals play the Red Sox tomorrow night. I grabbed some dinner and relaxed in my room, anticipating the early wake up for the race.

I woke up feeling fantastic and ready to run. I had picked up a new red running shirt and cap, along with some red sox for the race, all in honor of my beloved St. Louis Cardinals. From the hotel, I had to walk about half-a-mile towards Union Station for the races start, but I arrived in plenty of time and quickly found corral K, where I had been assigned. From what the announcer said, the race has more than 10,000 runners, though that is a combination of marathoners, half-marathoners, 10k and 5k participants. Still, that's a pretty good turn-out. 

As the starting time hits, the corrals begin running east on Market Street one by one. Being back in corral K, it takes a few minutes for me to get started, but it's a grand view. The sun rises just a little to the left of the skyline and we appear to be running directly towards the Gateway Arch, which has a dark silhouette across the orange-pink morning sky. The air is a bit chilly, but once we get started it should be perfect running weather.

Finally, my group reaches the starting line and we begin our journey winding through the streets of downtown St. Louis. I start out pretty fast and pass a large number of runners. I really am feeling great this morning. We take a couple of turns and then right right past the my hotel and the hall of famer's statues outside of the ballpark, which was nice planning for the route. From there, it's a few more twists and turns before we hike down to wharf street right along the Mississippi River and running directly below the Arch. What a grand image it is to run here.

Heading towards Laclede's Landing, we face a couple of minor up hill sections, but I'm still feeling good and run every step. Turning left, we run across the river on the Eads Bridge and then do a quick 180° and return to the Missouri side of the river. From there, it's back into the Arch grounds, as we run close enough to touch one of the giant stainless steel legs of the monument.

The next section of the race takes us into Soulard, where large groups of supporters line the streets with signs and cheers to encourage us to continue. I'm still feeling pretty good, but I definitely feel a couple of hot spots on my feet. Wearing new socks was probably a mistake, but they were red! As we reach the southern part of the course, we pass by the original Anheuser-Busch Brewery and the smell of hops gives me a little extra encouragement to keep moving. 

Now approaching mile nine, I'm starting to feel a bit taxed and my pace slows a little bit, but I force myself to keep running. The music pounding in my head phones definitely helps. I really want to do well at this race and as long as I'm not ready to pass out, I promise myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

We head back towards downtown and then turn west to do a lap around Lafayette Park. Here, more supports cheer us on and I start to get my second (or maybe seventh) wind. I'm going to finish this race strong. Returning to downtown, I make the final left turn at Memorial Plaza and in the distance the finish line comes into view. I focus what little energy I have left and cruise to the end.

My feet are hurting a little bit and I probably have a couple of blisters, but otherwise, I'm feeling great. My official time was 2:11:17, which is not my personal record for a half, but only about 12 minutes off and much, much better than my last several races. In fact, this is the fastest half-marathon I've run in nearly seven years and my fifth fastest ever. I was hoping to come in around 2:20:00 and so, this is an achievement to be proud of. All of the hard work has paid off. Now to just keep at it.

After enjoying some post race snacks in the form of a banana, a roll, and some cold water, I rest a few minutes in the park and bask in the glory of the event. Soon, it will be time to walk back to my hotel and shower. I have a lot of other things to do today, but this was certainly the right way to start things off. Now, to look forward to my next race and see if I can get under that two-hour mark once again.