Review: VA Wine Country Half Marathon (May 30, 2015)
I covered this race for RunHaven.com so they have my in-depth review on their website. You can read it here.
I found the course to be mostly gentle rolling hills. The race is late in May so I was worried about high temperatures and humidity, but that wasn’t a problem at all. I got a new PR on this course and qualified for San Diego with a 1:42:57.
The race was an hour away from where I live so I got up really early to take care of my pup and then head out to Loudoun County. This ended up being a blessing in disguise because I think I have finally settled on my race routine. It’s really food heavy, but feeling hungry in the middle of a run is a horrible feeling.
- Night before Spaghetti and Meatballs from Pie-Tanza (local Italian)
- 2 hours before race eat 1 bagel and 1 banana
- 1 hour before race eat 1 bagel (I go double poppyseed)
- 30mins before race eat 1 banana
- 15mins before race drink small Gatoraide (lemon-lime or die)
- Mile 3.5 eat 3 ShotBloks (Cran-Razz or Mountain Berry)
- Mile 7 eat 3 ShotBloks
- Mile 10 eat a couple more ShotBloks for one last caffeine boost
I drink water at every water stop unless I can feel it “sloshing” in my stomach (gross). When/if that happens I switch over to a drink/spit method. Generally, I skip the last water stop because it’s go time.
Anyway, big shout out to Destination Races, RunHaven, VisitLoudoun, REI, Shanna, Kyle, Lindsey, Mike, and all the volunteers and friends I met along the way. I had a great time writing my race recap for RunHaven and hope you guys check it out and enjoy it!
RunHaven: VA Wine Country Half Marathon – Vines, Wines and Views
