Jazz Half Race Report

It's amazing how much can change in two and a half years.

It was the Jazz Half Marathon in 2011 that prompted me to try my hand at this running thing.  I was turning 40 that year and wanted to find something somewhat silly to try to commemorate the occasion, and a non-runner running a Half Marathon seemed like the perfect thing.

A year later, I ran the Jazz Half again.  That time, instead of it being a "see if I can" challenge, it was "how fast can I?" A 50 degree overcast morning with a bit of a north breeze was the setting that morning as I broke the 1:40 barrier by 7 seconds, beating my half-marathon PR by nearly 8 minutes and surpassing my target for the day by 5.  I couldn't have ordered a more perfect morning for a race.

This year, however, my mindset for this race was quite different.  Knowing I could go the distance, and not peaking for this race, I went into the race of the mindset to treat it as a fast(ish) training run and nothing more.  Granted, I'd like to get a nice time, but it wasn't a priority.  My taper consisted of not working out Thursday night to instead decorate my wife's branch for her 40th birthday.  I didn't even guilt her and the kid into waking up early to come across the lake to the race, instead opting to drive myself over.  If anything, the race was to be as much of a non-event as possible.

On top of the lackadaisical attitude, I had also been fighting off a touch of a cold or something, so I hadn't been feeling 100%.  It wasn't bad enough to keep me home from work or running, but I certainly had felt better.  It was probably for the better, since not feeling great would keep me tempered.

I wasn't feeling too great at all the night before the race, and went to bed way earlier than I typically do (9 PM) and crashed out despite the wife/kid/poodle mulling about in the bedroom.  I set my alarm for 5AM on my alarm clock and my phone for my wake-up, but I ended up not needing them.  4AM came along and I was awake and unable to go back to sleep.  I got out of bed about 4:15, ate a bowl of Froot Loops, and gathered up my stuff for the race.  I was so unconcerned about the race that I didn't get my stuff together the night before as I typically do.  So lame.  I left the house about 5:15 to pick up my buddy Justin and head over the lake to downtown New Orleans.  

We got to Lafayette Square at about 6:20, which gave us plenty of time to utilize the facilities, figure out what was what, and mentally prep ourselves for the race.  I ran into my wife's boss and talked to him for a few minutes, as well as an acquaintance I know through my college buddies.  As the start time neared, I tried to find myself a slot in starting area near the 8:30 runners, but unlike last year they didn't have any markers up for self-seeding.  Bummer.

The past couple years, the race director would start the half-marathon, then about 15 minutes later the 5K would start.  This year, they opted to start both races together for some reason which just led to an extremely congested starting area.  They also changed the course from starting on Poydras to starting on Camp St. and making an out and back on both Convention Center Blvd. and Poydras in front of the Superdome before heading out St. Charles.  For the record, I was NOT a fan of the course change nor the mixing of the 5K runners and 13.1 runners.  It made for a very congested start and I was dodging people for 2.5 miles before getting some space to run in.

Another change made this year was moving the race up on the calendar by 2 weeks.  I'm not sure what prompted that change, but based on Facebook commentary, it was not a popular choice.  At the start of the race, the weather was clear, sunny, close to 80 degrees, and about 95% humidity.  Or in other words, not ideal running weather.  There was a bit of hope for a reprise from the heat, but by Thursday last week temps were creeping back up and the humid air had moved back in.  Needless to say, the weather sucked out loud for running.

So.. Onto the run...

Like I said earlier, the 5K runners and 13.1 runners were starting together, and people were self-seeding with no guidelines as to pace.  This made for a VERY congested start.  It wasn't until after the U-turn on Poydras (about 2 or so miles in) that I was able to find some space to run where I wasn't going in between or around people.  At St. Charles, the half-marathon split off from the 5K and I was finally able to run unimpeded from that point on.  I felt relatively good up to this point, but the conditions were definitely making for a challenging day.  I was watching my pace every half-mile and was staying in the 8:30-8:45 range which was a bit slower than I was hoping for.  

The second segment of the race (St. Charles to Audubon Park) was solid.  My pace never wavered even though it was slower than I wanted.  I hydrated at every water stop (luckily they were more plentiful this year than last due to the heat) and ate a Gu at the 6 mile mark.  I also seemed to pass a lot more folks than were passing me which was a good sign, but still too early to be a real confidence boost.  

The third segment of the race around the Audubon Park loop was fantastic.  The park makes for a great backdrop to run.  It's heavily shaded by the old oaks, has a wide path, and the surface is smooth blacktop.  It was here, though, that I was passed by Gumby.

Yes, there was a guy running in a Gumby costume.  And he passed me around the 8 mile water station.  I wasn't too concerned because I knew we had to go back downtown via St. Charles and it was going to be miserable for him.

Coming out of Audubon Park onto St. Charles for the last segment, it was apparent this stretch was going to suck.  The temperature was rapidly climbing and the course down St. Charles back to downtown was directly into the sun.  And while St. Charles Ave. is famous for it's oak tree canopy, it doesn't help much when the shadows are cast onto the sidewalk and not the street where we were running.  It was here that I started seeing my pace fade, even dropping into the 9:10 range for a bit.  

The mile 11 marker was a turning point though.  I've always had the attitude that if I'm still on my feet, I can go 3 more miles, no matter what.  Knowing I only had 2 left meant I knew I could push my pace and try to finish strong despite the heat.  First off... Pass Gumby.  Which I did at about 11.25 miles.  Then it was suck up the misery and push pace.  My half mile splits were back under 4:15 at 11.5, 12, and 12.5.  I even skipped the whiskey shots at the 12 mile mark.  Finally on the last stretch down Camp, I cranked up as much speed as I could to finish.  I came across the finish line at 1:55, significantly slower than last year's time, but still under 2 hours.  All things considered (weather, training, motivation, health), I'll take it.  

This year's race, however, seemed to be done "on the cheap".  There was no on-course timing like previous years.  Also, there was no photography anywhere on the course, even at the end.  The shirts this year were cheap t-shirts, not tech shirts like in prior years.  Post race support consisted of a couple cups of water.  There was a small post-race party with a decent band playing, but due to other circumstances I wasn't able to hang out too long to watch.  Overall, it was a bit disappointing compared to previous years.

This race should be a destination type event due to the time of year and location.  It seems that the promoters missed out on that somehow.  Hopefully they'll take note of the criticisms of this year's race and make the appropriate changes for next year.  

And as a final disappointment for the day... My Garmin for some reason crapped out and didn't record my run data properly.  Bah.

As for me... Well, next weekend I'm running another half-marathon.  :)  Supposedly the weather conditions are going to me more conducive to running fast as well.  This one is close to home, which means post-race cheeseburgers and beer at the Abita Brew Pub.  In the famous words of Bart Scott... "CAN'T WAIT!"

“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” -Steve Prefontaine