After the Rocket City and Charleston races were cancelled, I felt like I was rolling the dice by signing up for the 2022 Creve Coeur St. Paddy’s 1/2 Marathon. However, since it’s within driving distance of Cincinnati, I wanted to squeeze it in before we move to Charleston. It helped that two other Cincinnati runner friends were doing it and had room in their hotel room. 🙂

2022 Creve Coeur St. Paddy’s 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

I had an awesome race experience at the 2022 Creve Coeur St. Paddy’s 1/2 marathon! The weather was miserable with 10-15 mph winds and temperatures in the teens. My feet were numb for the first two miles or so. I was so happy to have my buff from the Asheville Half Marathon. Before the half way point I joined up with a pace group, which turned out to be the best thing! The pacers told us what was ahead – like the gravel part of the course, where to see bald eagles (we saw one!) and what side of the course the next water stop was at.

The course looked intimidating with, what we called, devil horns in the middle. That part was a steep incline, but included a few switch backs, not a straight incline like the elevation chart makes it look like. Plus, our pacers pumped us up!

The last 1.5 or so miles were around the lake and directly into the wind. At one point I looked down and my watch said 12.36 and I wanted to walk so bad. It was cold, I was tired and I wanted a break. One of the people in my group gave me a quick pep talk to get me to the finish line.

I crossed the finish line with hardly anything left in me. Considering I’ve missed the last few races and only had 1 (miserably slow) 8-mile run leading up to this race, I’m very happy with my time. Of course Irish I was faster, but I had a wonderful experience despite the very cold temps. 🙂

The Swag

The race swag included a medal, thin long-sleeve half-zip, and a pub glass. Packet pickup was at an Orange Theory facility so there was no expo to speak of. After the race we got water, a green beer, granola bars, oranges and a giant shamrock cookie. I’m usually not huge on sugar cookies but I ate that entire thing!

Full or Half Marathon in Every State

Thankfully this race broke the streak of cancelled half marathon races. I now have 13 states checked off. It should be 15, but who’s counting? I have a race in April and May set up, but I hate to name them and jinx it!