Magic City Half Marathon, Part One

Triple Crown Challenge: Leg 3 of 3.

Playlist for the race:  Grateful Dead’s 3-30-90 show from Nassau Coliseum, a hot show from the 1990 Spring Tour!

Birmingham is hillier than Talladega and Florence. There was a long steady climb in the meat of the route -along with a headwind- making this race the hardest of the three in the Triple Crown Challenge. 

This is the 2^nd year for the Magic City Half Marathon. It’s a smaller race with a lower budget so it doesn’t attract the elite athletes looking for prize money. The proceeds go to the Ruben StuddardFoundation. 

The weather was perfect for running: mid to high 40’s at the start with the temps reaching into the 50’s by the finish and a moderate, easterly wind. There was a 30 minute delay to the race’s start because Coca Cola’s truck carrying all the beverages for the water stops didn’t start! While I didn’t like the delay I can  understand why so no biggie. I’d much rather know there is water, Powerade and GU gels waiting for me during the race than hear, ‘sorry, no go!’

While warming up I felt a tear in the good old hamstring mentioned in my earlier post. I was feeling concerned and disappointed about not being 100% and was torn between pulling out of the race or pushing through and running.  It would suck training for 5 months, be SO close to completing my goal and not even trying. 

So with that in mind I found the 2:20 pace group, figured I’d stay with them for the first few miles, see how I felt and adjust accordingly. NO sense in going for a PR. I just wanted a nice, easy training run today and told myself,   “Don’t screw this up by pushing too hard and really mess up your leg.  Don’t race. Just finish!” It didn’t take long for me to ignore my own advice. Go figure....

Miles 1-4 offer the highest and lowest elevation points on the course. 

Starting from Linn Park you head west on Rev. Abraham Woods Blvd.  I ran super easy for the first mile even though it's downhill. The leg felt a little weird but nothing too irritating so I pressed on, silently saying goodbye to the 2:20 pacer and went looking for the next, running at a 2:10 pace. So much for taking it easy. I should’ve known!

At mile 2 you enter McLendon Park, home of Legion Field, the UAB Blazers and host of the 1996 Olympic Soccer games. I saw Mexico defeat Italy here, and some really great Alabama football games. 

  You have a steep incline of about 100 feet leading you to the campus of Birmingham Southern College.

 You’re rewarded for this climb with a left turn on 12 St. West and a nice, quick ¾ mile descent to the oldest surviving professional baseball park in the U.S., Rickwood Field

 It was built for the Birmingham Barons (AA ball team for my beloved Chicago White Sox) in 1910. 

 This is the lowest elevation for the course. At this point I'm feeling okay. Legs seem to be holding up well and I'm just churning away, singing along to the likes of "Little Red Rooster", "Dire Wolf", and "It's All Over Now".  l love me some Blues music! But people are looking at me kind of strangely. I guess no one else sings when they run? 

Splits for the first 4 miles:
Mile 1: 10:31
Mile 2: 9:40
Mile 3: 9:07
Mile 4: 8:42