The Rehoboth Half was my last ditch attempt at a sub-90 minute half marathon this fall. 

Third time wasn’t the charm for me. I finished in 1:31:45, another very modest PR – this time by 12 seconds. 

Honestly, though, I am not nearly as disappointed as I was after I finished Richmond. It was still a PR. I got second in my age group and finished 8th overall female out of more than 1,000 women. And, as I’ve written on my blog before, the after party at this race is insanely fun. You will not find a better after party at any race, anywhere! So, I went into this race knowing that even if it was a total shit show, I was going to have a great time. 

It wasn’t a total shit show (just a minor shit show, really), and I definitely did have a great time! Here’s how it went down.

Before the race 

On Thanksgiving Day, I ran the Turkey Trot in my hometown of Greensburg, PA, which I do every year. The course is brutal and hilly, but I ran a pretty significant course PR of 20:19 (previous fastest time on this course was 20:45.) So that was a huge confidence booster going into the half marathon. The weather was expected to be in the low 50s for the race, which is pretty good. No rain or crazy winds. Last year, it rained quite a bit for my final three miles of the half – I felt bad for the marathoners! 

My sister Catherine came to town the day before the race and she, Micah and I headed down to Rehoboth after I wrapped up work. Speaking of weather, it actually was disgustingly rainy that Friday, so the two-hour drive to the beach took more than 2.5 hours! We met up with Shannon, who was also running the half, once we got there and had dinner and drinks at Dogfish Head, then headed to the condo I rented near Lewes.

By the time I got into bed, it was close to midnight, which was not ideal. Sure enough, when I woke up the next morning, my Whoop told me I got less than 5 hours of sleep and my resting heart rate was elevated. Great! (I should know better than to look at that thing on race morning, to be honest. What good does it really do?)

Race day!

We got to downtown Rehoboth around 6:20, so I had plenty of time to use the bathroom before the 7 am race start. I ran into my friend Vanessa, who told me she saw a 1:30 half marathon pacer. I was excited about that, because I wasn’t expecting one! As in Richmond, there were quite a few of us who formed a pack around the 1:30 guy (there were also a bunch of marathoners running with the 3:00 pacer, so for the first few miles we were running with that group as well.) 

We went off promptly at 7 and I felt pretty warm almost immediately. Even though it was only in the 50s, it was more humid than I was expecting. I wore a tank top and shorts and wished I’d had a crop top or sports bra on instead. The first few miles felt OK. Not amazing. I was grabbing water at the water stations and pouring it on myself because I was that warm. They changed the course for this race a few years ago, and now you get to run the whole length of the boardwalk. Unfortunately, because it had rained quite a bit the previous day, the boards were slippery!

We also went out hot – too hot. My splits for the first three miles were 6:49, 6:42, and 6:51. Then we split mile 4 in 6:44. Yikes. My goal pace was 6:50-6:52, so well ahead of what I should have been running. But again, I felt OK, if not fantastic. I saw Catherine and Micah on the boardwalk around the mile 3 mark, and that pumped me up! 

The half marathon splits off from the marathon at Cape Henlopen State Park, and then the half marathoners run back through the neighborhoods in Rehoboth and then onto the Junction and Breakwater Trail. I was still running with the pack then and we ran mile 5 in 6:57, mile 6 in 6:56 and mile 7 in 6:51. I saw Catherine and Micah again at mile 6. Catherine was SO loud, haha! It is always nice to have such enthusiastic spectators!

Unfortunately, right after I saw them is when my race basically started to go off the rails and each mile got progressively slower until the final mile of the race. Womp womp.

You start to enter the Junction and Breakwater Trail around mile 8, which is mostly crushed gravel/dirt. I’m very familiar with the trail, given that I’ve run this race many times in the past and I run on the trail when I’m in Rehoboth for vacation. It’s not what I would call technical, but because of the previous day’s weather, it was muddier and more slippery than usual, and I was definitely afraid of tripping and falling. I clocked a 7:00 flat for mile 8, and a 7:14 for mile 9, but the terrain wasn’t the only reason I was slowing down. I was simply paying for the earlier, too fast miles. I also had planned to take a Maurten gel halfway through the race, but then just like in Richmond, didn’t feel like I could stomach it. Need to figure that out! 

Once I hit mile 10 (7:17), I told myself the after party was waiting and I’d be there soon. The 1:30 pacer had left me in the dust at that point, but I was trying to smile and wave at runners who were running in the opposite direction. 

The next two miles heading back to the town of Rehoboth continued to trend downward – 7:20 and 7:22 for miles 11 and 12. 

I was able to pick up the pace during mile 13 (7:03). When I turned the last corner to run toward the finish, the man running next to me said, “come on, let’s go, we’ll be under 1:32” and I mustered all of my energy to have somewhat of a finish line kick – never really my strong point – and finish in 1:31:45.

Was I disappointed? Yes, but not devastated. I knew sub-90 was always going to be tough. I met up with Micah and Catherine, sat down for a few minutes, then headed back to the finish line area for Shannon. She had a great race, and finished 15 minutes faster than she did in Ocean City!

Then, it was on to the after party! (Honestly, I think this is the whole reason my sister came down to cheer me on! Haha!) Runners get three beer tickets for Dogfish Head beer, and your friends and family can buy their own wristbands and have access to the beer and food. There’s a DJ, and he always plays such fun music, especially for those of us in our 40s (since we all love our ‘80s and ‘90s music.)

Last year, I tripped and skinned my knee reaching for a shot of Fireball at the after party, so I said not doing that was my main goal this year aside from breaking 90 minutes. I turned down several offers to take a shot this time, so at least I accomplished one of my goals.

Lessons learned and what’s next

Well, in Captain Obvious takes, going out too fast will blow up my race. I’m not mad at the pacer by any means, but maybe I shouldn’t rely on them too much. I’ve had such good luck with pace groups in marathons, though! 

As for what’s next, I am shelving the sub-90 half marathon goal for the time being, only because I am not signed up for any more half marathons in the near future. I’m taking some down time before I start training for the Boston Marathon in January. I am signed up for a 5K on Christmas Eve, which I will race, but I don’t have any big goals for it. Other than that, so far I am only registered for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in April, two weeks before Boston. I was able to use my 2022 Cherry Blossom time – still my 10 mile PR – to get in as a seeded runner and bypass the lottery, so I am excited about that. 

I’m optimistic that my half marathon training block set me up well for this spring. My 1:31 half time indicates a marathon time in the low 3:10s, and I would love to break 3:15 in Boston! I know it is a hard course, but it will also be the fourth time I have run it, so I have that on my side. 

Also! I asked my husband to sign me up for a “bonus” spring marathon for Christmas. I told him I wanted it to be after Boston and before Memorial Day, so I’ll find out what he signed me up for on Christmas. I can’t wait!