"He Who Chases Two Hares Catches None"

Disclaimer: I received an entry to Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro ambassador, and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!  

Another weekend, another half marathon! In my true nature I have taken on more than I should have this time of year - we're now entering competition season with track, field trips, lesson planning and head coach duties are piling up so why not add two half marathons within two weeks of each other to that? With that said, I just couldn't pass on the opportunity to represent BibRave at Cellcom, especially now that I am an official resident of the Fox Valley. I can now say the Cellcom Green Bay race weekend really lived up to its reputation. Here's my full recap:

Course

I was slightly surprised at the amount of time I felt I was running uphill in the half marathon course. I wouldn't classify this course as hilly but there were plenty of gently rolling hills scattered throughout. The support along the way was a little quiet at first, not many people were up and out, but towards the last 3 miles there were plenty of people out cheering. The volunteers and aid stations were phenomenal. There was an aid station every 2 miles that was filled with volunteers handing out gatorade and water. There were stations in the middle miles of the race with oranges and Guu as well as plenty of med tents in case runners were in need of assistance. The course didn't have any out and back loops and was a big loop around Ashwaubenon. The true gem of this course was the lap around Lambeau field with 1 mile to go in the race. Runners entered in the tunnel and directly onto the field for a full lap around the edge of the field. 

Packet Pick-Up/Parking

Access to the packet pick-up and race day parking were very simple. I always like being at races at large venues as they are already used to accommodating many people so there was plenty of parking and even though there were road closures it was pretty obvious where to go. The packet consisted of a gear check bag, a technical gender specific t-shirt and to my surprise a Camelbak flask. 

Start/Finish Areas

The start and finish lines were full of people, music, food (at the end) and water. I was slightly surprised they didn't do a rolling start with corrals but the course seemed to be spread out enough where it wasn't needed. The start area had a wide range of pacers, I think the fastest for the half that I saw was 1:30 and went up well over 2 hours. There was plenty of entertainment with crowd engagement to get everyone excited at the beginning and cheering in runners at the end. The crowd engagement and the energy at the finish line really reminded me why I like doing these. The people I had been running with were giving high fives and saying congratulations - even if we only ran a few miles together. People walking by were telling you good job on your race and overall, it was a brief renewal in humanity for me.

My Race

As I had mentioned above, I am currently in over-drive with school, coaching and life, I've taken on a lot and running, which is usually my outlet, has not been the most stress relieving thing. I've been doing a lot of 4:30 AM wake-up calls to get out the door before school and to get everything in for the day. With that, my original training cycle for Illinois has been disrupted with COVID, missed workouts, and some other sickness that knocked me out for a few days. I didn't have the flawless training cycle of the past and I knew it wasn't going to lead up to a big PR race. I have recently heard the phrase, "He who chases two hares catches none." It's in my nature to apply my full self to whatever I'm doing, but right now I am not catching any hares. With all of that, I ran Illinois 2 weeks ago to my best ability for the time of 1:39. Going into Green Bay I knew I would be coasting off of that training for the two weeks following (or really four weeks if you include the taper in there) and just have fun with the race and immerse myself in the experience. 

Going into today I was pretty confident I could hold an 8 minute pace comfortably enough and set out with the 1:45 pace group. I let them do all the work to pull me along and didn't look at my watch for the majority of the race. I was feeling really good, even with the sun coming out blazing the whole race and made the decision that if I was still feeling this good at mile 10 then I would see what I could do the last 3 miles. Mile 10 passed, the gear change wasn't available, so I just stuck it out and slowly brought it in with a 1:44.57 (keeping it real close there!). Whether it was my slightly under trained state or the World telling me to just slow my life down, I certainly didn't finish with a strong kick. I'm okay with that, I know I have more in me, but for now...I'm ready to take a few days off.

Thank you Green Bay for the experience!