The Inaugural Trenton Half Marathon took place on Saturday, November 10. Alek and I stayed with my parents Friday and made the 1.5 hour trip from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley to Trenton, NJ on Saturday morning. The race was originally slated to start at 8AM but during the week leading up to the race the organizers sent emails stating that the start time would actually be 7:45 AM. We followed the GPS to Thunder Park, but at 7am when we were 3 miles away from the park the streets were closed. The volunteer at the closed intersection wasn't sure how to instruct us to get to the race start, so I checked the website. Parking, it said, would be at Sun Stadium which was about a half mile from the start line. The site also said shuttles would run from the stadium to the race start. So we reset our GPS to go to Sun Stadium and followed signs for arena parking.
The first lot we pulled into was a no-go. The parking attendant said it was for cheerleaders and instructed us to go to a different lot. We finally found a lot and then started to follow the other runners to what we hoped was the race start. This took us to the lot where we were supposed to park, and shuttles were there to pick up. By now it was 7:13 and I was getting pretty worried about my ability to pick up my race packet before 7:30 when the website said packet pickup would end.
We got a shuttle, and arrived at Thunder Park, which is actually a baseball stadium, at 7:20. I put Alek and my parents in line for my bib while I went to find the port-o-johns. After I finished, I met up with everyone at the front of the line where I was able to get my bib and t-shirt fairly quickly.
The first part of the morning was quite chaotic. The line for morning-of packet pickup was long and disorganized. There were several lines based on bib number in addition to a line to find your bib number. There is definite room for improvement for next year. In addition the website said there would be signs indicating where to park, but signage for the race and parking was nonexistent as we drove to the race.
Thunder Park is actually a baseball stadium. The race started behind the stadium. After picking up my packet, we headed back to the start area. Here I met up with my friend Diane who would be running the 10k and her fiance Greg who was also running the half in this lot. We chatted for a bit, and then it looked like runners already in the corral were starting to move up so Greg and I headed to the corral. There weren't any time delimiters in the corral, they just asked fast runners to start at the front. I stayed midpack and didn't have any problems with where I chose to start. We ended up in the corrals until 8:25 with the race starting 40 minutes late.
It was a chilly, long wait in the corral.
The first three miles of the race took us around the historic area of Trenton with the only major hill being right at the start at a highway ramp. My parents and Alek were cheering that the three mile mark just before I crossed the Trenton Makes bridge into PA.
Running toward the first bridge at mile 3.
The bridge into Morrisville, PA was a steel grate bridge. My glutes started to hurt as I ran across and at that point I decided to back off a bit. Usually pain in the glutes starts just before hip pain and I didn't want to risk any long term problems. There were quite a few people out cheering in Morrisville. As always, its great to see.
After about 3 miles in Trenton we came back across a different bridge. This bridge was also a steel grate bridge, but it had a wooden sidewalk. I decided to run on the sidewalk as the grates were a bit difficult to run across. As I came off the bridge and onto the ramp on route 29, Alek was there cheering with his "Run All the Miles Sign."
Right around mile 6
The rest of the race took us on an out and back down route 29 and then through Cadwalader Park. The highway was mostly flat with hills on the ramps, but the park was very hilly. By mile 8 I was slowing down and getting very tired. The park showed evidence of Hurricane Sandy coming through with large downed trees.
The final stretch of the race led us into the baseball stadium at first base and finishing on home plate. This was the coolest race finish I've ever completed. It was especially great to see my parents and Alek in the bleachers cheering!
Rounding to home!
The finish line
I finished with a time of 2:05:10. My hip injury has once again taken my goal of a sub 2 hour half marathon from me, but I'm not giving up! I'll be running
Rock N' Roll Las Vegas on December 2nd and I'll try again there.
Full race results can be found
here. This race had a very cool finisher medal and long sleeve race shirt.
This race course was fun, and nearly all of it was very wide. I was impressed with the number of road closures and the amount of consideration given to runners in Trenton and Morrisville. There were a few logistical issues at the start, but I would trust the organizers to get these ironed out for next year's race. I would definitely recommend the Trenton Half to anyone looking for an unusual race with a very cool finish!
