Yesterday I recapped the 2011 Virginia Wine Country Half-Marathon and promised to give you a review of the 2012 race today.

If you remember, I injured my back in early February of 2012 and couldn’t run for the rest of February through most of April.  I started going out for walks in early April and started run/walking in late April.  I approached the half-marathon with a plan to run as much as I could, while taking as many walk breaks as necessary…

While at the expo the day before the race, I stopped to see Jeff Galloway and bought a couple of books that he and his wife Barbara wrote.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jeff a few other times.  I first met him when I coached for the National Aids Marathon Training Program, and he taught us (the coaches) about his run/walk/run training method.  We talked a little about our injuries (isn’t that what all runners do?) and he confirmed that my run/walk plan was a good idea as I healed.

JeffBarbaraGalloway

Jeff and Barbara Galloway

Race morning, we woke up to a gorgeous day after torrential rainfall left several inches of rain overnight.  The race course had been changed from the previous year to form a loop with the start and finish at Doukenie Winery.  We could only find four (out of eight) Cruisers for our traditional pre-race picture.

2012WineHalfStart

Just before the starting announcement four more Cruisers joined us, but it was too crowded to take a group picture.  We all started together, but very quickly the rest of the group pulled ahead.  I had expected to run/walk the race alone, but Chuck and Kati decided to stay back with me.  When we saw this sign, Kati ran ahead and posed with Chuck so I could take a quick picture and let the world know that she and Chuck are RUNNERS!

2012WineHalfKatiChuck

We saw this shirt on a member of one of the other racing teams.  The Cruisers don’t have a fancy team shirt.  I keep saying that I’m going to do something about that, but haven’t…

2012WineHalfShirtBack

I pleasantly surprised myself by being able to run about 75% of the race, running until I needed a walk break and then walking until I had recovered.  I finished with a time of 2:52:42.  I felt so good that I ran the last couple of miles without taking a walk break.  My secret goal had been to finish in under three hours, so I was very happy!  The Cruisers had a team again in the 2012 race, but I haven’t been able to find the results.  Oh well, I’m sure we didn’t finish first, and I doubt that we finished last.

Here’s a picture of Kati, Lolly, and me holding our wine glasses just after the race.  I think our smiles say it all…  We were very happy to be finished with another well organized race!

2012WineHalfGirls

My hubby had to leave immediately after the race to go to work, and we couldn’t find Chuck and Kati, so once again we couldn’t get a picture of the whole group.

2012WineHalfGroup

I really liked the race shirt for 2012, especially since it’s a technical shirt with a women’s cut.  As you can see, the 2012 finisher’s medal had a corkscrew on it in addition to the bottle stopper!  I’m hoping the 2013 medal has an additional appendage… a foil cutter!  🙂

WineCountryHalfSwag2012

The back of the shirt had the 2012 poster theme on it.

WineCountryHalfBack2012

Bill and I each received another collector’s wine glass, so our collection has grown to four!

WineCountryHalfGlass

  • Questions:
  • Have you ever run in one of Destination Races’ wine country half-marathon events?
  • Have you ever run as part of a team in a race?
  • Are you racing this weekend?