On November 1, I ran the Two Cities Half Marathon in Fresno, CA.

I will begin my review, by stating the positive things about this race.

The packet pickup was at the Vets Hall in Downtown Clovis, which was easy to get to and seemed to be well organized.

Score one for Fresno.

Not only do race participants receive a short sleeve race T, but they also receive a long sleeve technical half zip at the finish!

Two for Fresno.

The race also has the option of running two Half Marathons (one in Fresno, or one to Clovis and back).

This is one of the few races that I know of that offer two options for Half Marathons.
Three for Fresno.

Lastly, the Finish Line offers a huge assortment of food for the finishers…

Scrambled eggs, potatoes, pancakes, coffee, hot chocolate, ice cream sundaes, fruit… the list goes on and on.

It was an amazing sight to see after running for 2 hours.

Four for Fresno.

Now lets get to the negatives… I have to be honest here people.

Surprisingly, I only have one.

The Fresno Half Marathon course, the one I decided to run, is pretty challenging.

I felt like I was running up hill the entire time.

Looking back on this race two weeks later, I realize now that I went wrong in four places…
1.) I was overconfident in my training.
2.) I went into this race without really giving my race plan much thought.
3.) I failed to study the course map and elevation chart prior to the race.
and lastly…
4.) I tried to keep up with the pacer.

I broke one of my cardinal rules… run your own race.

Had I taken all of these failures into consideration before running the race, I think it could have ended much differently.

But, I am chalking this one up to another learning experience.