Race Recap – Atlantic City Half Marathon

Atlantic City

On October 18, 2015, I completed my third half marathon, the Atlantic City Half Marathon. This was supposed to be my first Marathon, but a few months before, I chickened out and down graded to the half. I still can’t seem to work up the nerve to do a full marathon and may never. It just seems so daunting to me. In addition, right before the race, I was not really looking forward to it. I was a bit burned out on racing generally and just wanted to skip it. But since I had never been to Atlantic City before, I figured I may as well go and try to enjoy myself.

Pre-Race

I booked our room at the Bally’s Atlantic City, which was the sponsoring hotel. This turned out to be both a good and bad thing. I have no interest in gambling and right off the bat, I was not impressed. The lobby was filled with tons of cigarette smoke from the casino and the building was dingy and old. They were supposed to bring a cot for my son to sleep in and it took several hours, four calls and a visit to the front desk to get it. On the good side, however, the expo was at the hotel, and the start and finish line for the race were just out the back doors. Generally, I have to wake at 5:00am to drive to get to my races and then the when the race is over, I get to marinate in my stinky running gear for a long car ride home. I have never before been able to wake up only a half hour before the race, get ready and go downstairs, and still be early! And after the race, I even had time to go back to the room, shower and hang out for a bit before checking out. That was glorious and almost made the cot problem ok. Never underestimate convenience.

Hard Rock Cafe

The night before the race, we walked up the boardwalk and had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. I had not been to one in years and honestly expected the meal to be typical mediocre chain food, but I was wrong. My food was outstanding and we ended up having a blast. Teddy’s meal came on a cute guitar shaped plate and they gave him a whole activity book of games and puzzles, that looked like a DVD package, to play while he waited.

As for the race itself, it was a beautiful course and a beautiful day. The sun was shining and there were barely any clouds in the sky. The temperature was cool, but not freezing. It was a mostly flat course, with a handful of mild hills. The course started on the boardwalk, then veered onto the roads for a bit, through a tunnel and some highway, then ended up back on the boardwalk with a loop. The traffic tunnel was so quiet and windless. It was new and interesting experience for me. Since, I love running alongside the ocean, I was pretty happy for most of this race.

Early on, at about a mile and a half into the race, I decided to tag along with pace keeper for a 2:45 half marathon, since I was pretty much pacing him anyhow. He was using a run-walk strategy of 2 minutes running and 1 minutes walking. I figured “What the heck do I have to lose by sticking with him,” since I had already told Mark I would meet him at the finish line around 2:50. This worked out pretty well and I stuck with him until Mile 11. Unfortunately, at that point my knee, which had started bothering me at about Mile 8, was unbearable and I just needed to walk it out, so I told them to run ahead.

I had brought my own fuel belt, which had two water bottles and two Gatorade bottles, so I didn’t need to stop at any of the water stops, but they were extremely plentiful and evenly spaced throughout. For the first time ever, I wished I hadn’t worn my belt, since at one point, a bottle fell out and I ran back to grab it then had to sprint to catch up to the pacer. I think this choice was ultimately a stupid one and was part of the reason I had to leave the pace group later. When the bottle felt out a second time, I let it go. I’m thinking about getting a Camelpak for next time, since that it mostly what I used on training runs.

Bass Pro Shop

I finished in 2:50:56, which was almost four minutes faster than my last half, ten minutes slower than my first one and almost exactly the time I estimated I would finish. I saw Mark and Teddy a few feet before the finish line and hugged them, then I headed through the shoot and to get some snacks. They were plentiful and interesting. In addition to the usual bagels, bananas and water, they had suckers, pretzels, caramel corn and beer. I ended up forgetting about my beer ticket entirely, but I had some pretzels and a banana and headed upstairs.

After getting cleaned up and checking out of the hotel, we went over to the Bass Pro Shop to buy Teddy a bow and arrow set. That place is pretty cool and if you are ever in Atlantic City, you should check it out.

Blinking Medal

Overall, I really enjoyed this race, though I probably won’t do it again. I was not really into Atlantic City, generally, but the race itself was well run and a fun course.