I ran the Charlotte Racefest Half Marathon on April 18 to pace a longtime client and friend in her first half marathon and had the best day out there!
2026 CHARLOTTE RACEFEST HALF MARATHON
This was half marathon number 12 for me and a really fun, enjoyable and rewarding one! I started training my friend Donna back in 2011. She was my second personal training client ever and I used to drive to her apartment in uptown and we’d workout in the gym. We’ve had a few stops and starts in training through various seasons of life but she’s my longest-tenured client and so incredibly strong. A couple of years ago she decided she wanted to start running and put in the work to build a base and get to the finish line of her first half marathon!
Let’s recap the day!
I got up at 5:30a for the 7:30a start. I showered, ate toasted sourdough with butter and my dad’s homemade cherry preserves and drank my favorite electrolyte/carb pre-run drink. (Pro-tip – mix it in a blender bottle the night before so that it fully dissolves.) I drink this before most any long run, race or trail day. I carried three Maurten gels with me and ate them at 30, 60 and 90 minutes.
It was a quick 10 minute drive from my house to SouthPark Mall. Love Charlotte races that start at SouthPark because parking is so easy.
I immediately queued for packet pickup and was doubtful that I’d make the start on time. The lines were so long! I didn’t get my packet ahead of time because I registered for this race at the very last minute. The only person at fault here is me haha. Luckily, the line was split alphabetically and A-E was the shortest. I grabbed my bib with about seven minutes to spare. I really wanted to pop into the porta potties but didn’t want to risk it as those lines were also long. I decided I’d go on course if I really needed to but the opportunity never presented itself in an easy way so I held it for 13 miles. Oh well!
I found Donna and we hopped into the starting corral. Excitement was high although we were a little worried about the temps.
While it was only 60 at the start, we were forecasted to have the warmest day of the year yet with highs around 90 and lots of sunshine.
We took off right at 7:30a. The half and the 10K start together so the first mile was a little congested. There were only about 2,500 runners between the two races (pretty evenly split) so it wasn’t too bad!
Donna had a loose goal of finishing around two hours. I reviewed her recent long runs along with a recent 10 mile race she ran on Strava, and deemed that was definitely doable for her if she was feeling good. We agreed to hold around a 9:15 pace and to let that ebb and flow depending on elevation, fueling, water stops, etc.
Donna had a little nausea in the first few miles but we think it was mostly attributed to nerves/adrenaline. She was a champion though and held steady.
We had our first significant climb around mile 4 (Charlotte is hilly – you cannot run a race in Charlotte without hills). I did a lot of coaching throughout the race for Donna to lock in and push in the tough moments and to pull back and let it be flowy when the course offered some ease. Our mantra became “what goes up must come down.”
We had another massive and long climb around miles 7-8 that brought us our slowest mile split of the day at 9:37. Our mantra proved true and our next mile down was an 8:55 and all smiles.
Donna was REALLY feeling it at this point in the race but hitting mile 10 and knowing that it was only a 5K to go was a huge motivator. We had one more monster hill to contend with and at one point I literally had my hand on her back gently guiding her forward as I kept repeating how strong she was and it would be over soon.
While Donna had trained using gels, she struggled getting them down on race day due to nausea. Luckily, she had eaten breakfast and given the duration of effort, I didn’t think she would blow up or bonk like she would if it were an unfueled full. She was finally able to get a gel down at mile 10.5 and I knew that would give her the pickup she needed to finish.
This girl has some grit! She dug in and ran it in for the final 2.5 miles after her gel. She told me she was dying and I told her I was going to talk to her and she didn’t have to say anything. I kept repeating positive affirmations, told her how strong she was and announced to every spectator we passed that she was finishing her first half marathon which elicited a lot of cheers!
Running up the final chute and videoing her finish! It was so fun to be Donna’s hype girl! I would love to do more pacing in the future! Maybe even “official” pacing!
SO PROUD! Official finish time 2:02:33. It was a massive honor to share this accomplishment with Donna.
How pretty are the medals!? Racefest celebrated its 25th anniversary this year and is now being managed by Crown Collective – the same group that does my favorite Charlotte Race, the Around the Crown 10K. No doubt they’ll continue to make Racefest Charlotte’s go-to spring race.
RETURNING TO ENDURANCE RUNNING + AN UPDATE ON MY HIP
Tangent time. Two years ago I ran my first half marathon since before Finn was born at the Craft Half in Winston-Salem. I’ve spent the last two miles logging long miles on the roads and the trails. I’ve run three halfs, two fulls, a 120 mile six-day stage trail race and a 44 mile three-day stage trail race. Never did I ever think I’d be able to run like this again without having surgery for my hip but I’m so happy I decided to go for it two years ago and see what happened.
My labrum is torn in two places and I have an impingement (bone growth at top of my femur). You can read the full story in this old post. I was okay with keeping my runs more in the 3-6 mile range but this endurance stuff just does something special for me. My hip is an ongoing challenge (and the resulting issues like tendonitis in my knee due to compensation) but overall I am feeling good and strong. I know I’ll reach a point where surgery is the right call but we’re not quite there yet. Strength training gets all the credit for how I can run the way I do.
And if you’re wondering – why not just get it fixed? Surgery is not a home run. I had a couple of consults and both surgeons were clear that it’s not always an easy fix. They said generally about two out of three people have a positive surgical outcomes but for that other group, they have no change or worsened pain. One even told me 50/50 I’d ever run again – the other said I definitely would. I would also be out of work for a few months as I wouldn’t be able to teach or train because I won’t be able to do a lot or lift over 15 pounds.
Surgery is a big deal and I’m taking the decision very seriously. The key is just not to cross the threshold of having arthritis in the joint because then we start to look at a replacement instead of a repair. It’s a lot! I am doing a 90-minute assessment with a physical therapist next week to see how I can best support my hip and body as I prepare for the Golden Ultra in September. I’ve got a lot of trail miles to run this summer!
I’ll keep y’all posted and let me know if you have any questions in the meantime.
