Myranda Nowak's Staging Area

This was my 3rd year running this half marathon. The t-shirt for this year was t-shirt material instead of the sport t-shirt that we’ve gotten in the past. I love the medal and it’s moving parts. This year we weren’t plagued with the massive winds so running on the runway and then on base was wonderful. There was slight course change because weather caused some flooding in some of the neighborhoods but I loved that we didn’t have that street towards the end where we ran half way down the road and ran around a cone and flipped around. This training cycle for me was filled with illness after illness and ultimately running with an ear infection. My only goal was to finish before the cut off and I accidentally PR’d instead! Can’t wait for next year!

It was a rough fall with my child starting school and everyone in the house rotating who was sick so I didn’t train as I would have liked to however I pushed myself to see how far I could run without a walk break and I discovered that I could run 10 miles without a walk break…only brief pauses at street crossings to make sure I didn’t become a hood ornament!

I signed up for the Semper Paratus Challenge (the 5K and Half). This is my second year running the half and while I loved the run through the base last year, I was excited for the changes this year. Running on the runway was amazing! We had some killer wind though. It was great on the runway but then running head on into 30+ mph winds was rough. I hope that we can use this same route next year but without the wind!

One day I will run this in person but until then I will run this virtually every year. My course ratings and production ratings are in the middle/neutral because I wasn’t in person. I don’t know what the course looked like or the level of difficulty but it looked like a fun time! I got my swag in January after I ran my race and the quality of the t-shirt, medal, challenge coin, and patch are great! I wish that the bibs were emailed out to virtual runners so it can be printed out and worn when we complete the run on our own. I am impressed with my performance. I missed 1/3 of my training runs due to packing and moving states and managed to hit my goal pace!

As a CG Aviation Veteran, this course flooded my brain with memories every mile! While the course did take me through neighborhoods I didn’t know existed (and so much has changed since I went to “A” school almost 20 years ago), it was running on base that made it almost impossible for me to keep going. I lived on base for 6 months while going to school. Memories of my classes, instructors, friends and fun times made me tear up multiple times on and off base. There were only a couple of small hills (and I do mean small) and it was really cold at the start/finish line which was on the water (that’s the only reason I gave it a 2 for difficulty…because I don’t like the cold). The neighborhoods were beautiful, there was a beautiful sunrise (although it was cloudy), so many people cheering on runners at the end of their driveways and along the course which is something I have never experienced.

Overall, I felt great post race. My legs weren’t dead, I’m a fully functioning human the day after race day, managed to get only a small blister, and I actually can’t wait to sign up for next year!