On Saturday, October 29, 2016 I ran my 30th Half Marathon in a local race for me in the Race 13.1 Charleston Half Marathon.  Living in Charleston, SC I like to do at least one hometown race, and this year this was my choice, mainly because of the awesome cool Halloween themed race medal and shirt.  Race 13.1 has a series of races across the country, and this was my first of their series.  They really did a nice job with the race.  I would recommend them if you need a race.

The race took place on Middleton Place Plantation and was considered a trail run.  I ran with a few friends, and because it was our first trail run, we went in without any expectations of time/pace and decided to just run this one together for fun.

We got a notice from Race 13.1 earlier in the week prior to the race that the course would have to be changed because of all the damage suffered on the plantation from Hurricane Matthew.  We ended up having to do 3 loops of a 4.5 mile route.

I was not fond of this, but going into this for fun, I did not get too worked up over it.  It was rough terrain and having 700+ runners pounding the loop 3 times it got pretty rough by the last lap.  I will probably do it again next year so we can try out the full course.

The race started at 7:00 AM.  The temperatures were comfortable in the low 60s.  Because the course was 3 loops, we knew where the water stops would be.  They were spaces out properly and there were three stops on the loop.  Each stop had porta-potties for bathroom breaks.

This was a Halloween themed race, and they had a costume contest.  So during the race we run up on these two ladies running the race as the Tortoise and the Hare.  They were hilarious fun.  We stuck pretty close to them on the last lap.  They finished up right before us, and about 100 yards from the finish, the Hare just pulled off to the side and started celebrating.  The Tortoise then passed her by and finished first.  It was nice choreography.

It was a tough race.  Because we had not had rain since the hurricane, it was quite dusty.  So when we finished up, our shoes and gear wear filthy.

Even though we just run the race as a training run, we still worked hard through this challenging course.  We finished in a time of 2:13.

But it was all about the swag.  This is what drew me to this race.  The medal and shirt were awesome.

I only have a week off before making the trek to West Virginia to run the Marshall University Half Marathon in Huntington, WV.  This will be State #17 in my 50 By 50 Challenge.  Finally, here is my running buddy, Amy’s (better know as The Tiny Terror) recap of the race.  She is a far better writer than I! Enjoy!