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In the search of local races to run, we came across with a site that offered the Triple Crown Challenge. In a nutshell, complete a series of three half marathons in a bout a two and a half months period and upon completion of the last one you will get an extra medal. That by itself got our attention. Since now it feels like it is all about the bling, Roland and I decided to go for it. (I have been enjoying the medals of the events a lot) The first race, the Run Raleigh Half, starts by leaving the Cameron Shopping village and proceed to a nice tour of Hillsborough street, downtown Raleigh area and back. Similar route in some parts to last year’s City of Oaks half , the scenery for this event is outstanding.

Since we were coming from a full marathon about a month ago, and thought that no additional training was necessary other than a long runs longer than 10 miles. For this event my friend and I planned to do the 4 mile run and then some walk for fueling strategy that “worked” during the full. And it worked well, we had a great Race, it felt good all the way, with minor walking here and there at a few water stations. Early in the race there was a long section with a very wide turn and slightly down hill. We cruised that section with really good sustainable pace. Taking the inside of the long turn we ensure not having to run extra distance. We applied the learning from the Disney Half and the Tobacco Marathon during this race and had a much better event and experience. It definitely worked for me, finishing with a PR of 2:14:03, very well under the 2:20:00 original target. I am feeling very confident about the next race of the Triple Crown Challenge.

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{f1}Month/Year;;;{f1}Event;;;{f1}Location;;;{f1}Type;;;{f1}Time;nn;
Apr-13;;;Run Raleigh Half;;;NC;;;Half;;;2:14:33;nn;
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Event Highlight & Learning Points;nn;Highlights:

Course: The scenery is great, very long down grade section early in the race.

Venue: Great snacks at the start/finish line with various vendors

Expo: No Expo

Weather: Clear skies 43º with 98% humidity.

T1D: Sugars were with in running range at breakfast time.

Fueling:Pre-Race: Oatmeal and Latte.

               Race: Water at the water stations. Bottle of PowerZero. 3 GUs – one around every four miles.

               Post: Normal food

Learning Points:

• Putting learning to practice is exhilarating
  
• With a good event getting closer to the 2:00 hour mark is possible.
  ;nn;
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