Helvetia Half Marathon

Completed my second half-marathon on June 12, Saturday. 13.1 miles of scenic oregon countryside in 2 hrs 15 min 35 sec ( a pace of 10 min 21 sec per mile).

The race course was beautiful country roads of Portland's Hillsboro suburb. Some what challenging course with multiple steep hills for first seven miles, and even a small stretch of half mile on un-paved roads.  Race day morning weather was perfect with 70-80 degrees and clear blue skys. My target was to finish in 2 hrs and was going really strong untill 11th mile (1hr 48 min), but that's when I started cramping on my leg's calf muscles and was forced to a very slow jogging pace for the last 2 miles. 

But the best part of race was ofcourse seeing my personal cheer leading team (wife and kids), plus the cheering crowds inside the Hillsboro stadium as you run the last few yards to cross the finish line, which helped me forget my pains. I am still not sure what caused the cramps, but within couple of hours after race my legs were pretty normal. May be the yummy post-race meal "Helvetia burger"  or the icy bath did the trick. 

All in all a Superb race ! thanks to my AID portland team who helped me with practice runs over last 4 months. Ofcourse would have been even great to finish up faster and beat my PR (9 min/mile from 2009 Hood to coast), but hey.. finishing is important, and ofcourse there's always the next race to set a new record. 

Here are some photos from race, enjoy !

PS : Later through online research I learnt there's no clear single cause for cramps but can happen because of sodium deficiency or rapid dehydration especially if you are running faster pace than your practice runs, and is the probably case for me as I didn't probably take enough sports drinks w/electrolytes to compensate fluid loss during my run.