Garmin selected Toledo OH and Tucson AZ as the locations for their inaugural race series. The event offered 5K, 10K half marathon and full marathon. Since this was a new race I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. All in all, this ended up being an impressive race! Way to go Garmin, you did good 🙂
Expo and race swag – the expo contained every product line that Garmin makes! No kidding, they had everything from aviation to golf and fishing products. It was interesting to see all of the things they make (heck, I’m sure they have more). The expo also had some local vendors and Shokz and Brooks. It was a decent size with everything you need – extra race merch, shoes, fueling, etc. It also had several promo spots perfect for pre race pics. We went to the expo on Friday evening and it wasn’t very busy.
Garmin did a good job with race swag. Quality Brooks shirts, a water bottle, a string bag.
I decided to wear my Saucony Endorphin Elites. So happy that I did!
Race morning – It’s always nice to sleep in your own bed before a race! Not knowing how much traffic there would be, we left at 5:45am (woke up at 5:15) to get downtown by 6:30. That worked out perfectly because as we drove into the city we saw free parking on the street. Easy peasy. The walk to the start was about ½ a mile. We actually parked at 6:15 so we had plenty of time.
We made the mistake of waiting in a line for porta potties only to learn that only 1 of the group of 6 were open! These were not race potties, so no complaints on that one. Even better, we then went to an indoor restroom at the convention center. We were finished just in time to get in the corrals!
I loved the theming of race elements. There was a carpet at the start line with the color stripes and the mile markers were big watches!! I heard a few people tripped on the carpet at the finish, but luckily I had no problems with it.
The gun went off at 7am and we were on our way! To my surprise everyone in my area was seeded properly. No walkers to dodge or anything like that. I didn’t have a goal time for this race other than hoping to be sub 2:00 so that’s where I lined up and just ran by feel. I had a race predictor set on my watch and early on it showed 1:53 as my predicted finish time. Nice! Well, maybe going a little fast but it’s all good 🙂 It was 63 degrees and cloudy. Not too bad, but could have been cooler.
Miles 1-5 = 8:38, 8:34, 8:33, 8:31, 8:35
I did not spend much time looking at the race course but I knew there were two bridges we had to cross. The course winds its way through Toledo which was really nice because even though I live here I don’t get to these downtown areas often, if ever.
The first bridge at mile 5 was not too bad because it was a gradual incline. It was a bit tricky because we ran over a suspension part of the bridge which I can imagine would be quite slick on race shoes if it was wet out (but it wasn’t!). The sun was coming up and we went through the new Glass City Metro Park. Nice!
Miles 6-8 = 8:37, 8:41, 8:52
The toughest part of this course was the out and back section for miles 8 – 10. My predicted time slipped to 1:55 now and I knew I still had another big bridge to go. It was nice to see the runners who were heading to the finish, and I did get to see Alan (Go Alan!). But wow, it really dragged on here. The turnaround has got to be up here soon…
Miles 9-11 = 8:52, 8:48, 8:51
I knew there were only a few more miles left, but when the heck were we going to cross the bridge and finish?? I did get a bit of a boost on the way back seeing everyone behind me in the out and back. And just like that, at mile 12 the bridge was there!
Miles 12 – end = 9:06, 9:04, 8:33 (sprint to the finish)
That bridge was killer. It felt like it was a mile long, but I think it was .3 of a mile until the summit. It did have almost 100 ft elevation gain and I’m proud to say I ran the whole thing (which was not the case for those around me). But with big uphills come speedy downhills! It was another nice energy boost with the finish line in sight.
Finish time 1:55:47 7th out of 74 in my age group, yay! The race predictor on my watch was very close because I set it for a distance of 13.25 and my watch said the race was 13.25 miles! A good guess!
Post race party – we got a free beer (yummy local brewery) and food (also delicious local restaurant). There were several cool Garmin props for pictures including this huge watch. It was really cool!! We had to wait around 30 mins in line for it but it was totally worth it. There was also a DJ.
Alan decided to just use this as a supported training run for Columbus full. He had a good race too!
A celebrity sighting occurred after the race. Jeannie Rice was there! She is actually a friend of a friend, so I introduced myself to her and got a picture. I was supposed to meet up with them when we ran Berlin but we weren’t able to coordinate being in the same place! She seems to be the life of the party – she was out on the dance floor after the race having a good time.
Garmin even gave us a special badge. The race must have been a success in Garmin’s eyes too because they announced they will be back in 2026. I highly recommend running it!
I am linking up with Jenny from Runners Fly and Jenn from Runs with Pugs for Tuesday Topics! Please join the party every week!
Oh, congratulations!
New races can really go either way, but I feel like when it’s a big running brand, they’ll do it right. That watch photo op is so cool! I would have totally waited 30 minutes!
And I’m so glad you got to meet up with Jeannie Rice! Everything always works out!
Sounds like this was a great one in every way! Nice job!
There was also a big watch at the expo that said “Have a great race Lisa” if you scanned your race bib. So fun! They were giving out watches as age group awards too (only for 1st place I think).
Wow, what a great race recap, Lisa!
Sounds like Garmin really pulled out all the stops for their first event, those big watch mile markers are such a fun idea.
And I’m completely blown away that you met Jeannie Rice!! She is an amazing woman. How cool to see her not just racing but also tearing up the dance floor afterwards.
Congrats on your strong race and age group placing – that bridge at the end sounds brutal, but you crushed it!
Apparently Jeannie has a house a few hours away in Ohio. She’s really nice! I know she was injured at Berlin marathon last year so it was good to see her running well at Garmjn.
Congrats on running such a strong half marathon, Lisa! It certainly sounds like Garmin put on a great event!
Very cool that you got to meet Jeannie Rice. She also the friend of a friend (she runs with my friend Miles in Naples during the winter – well, I suspect they socialize before and after their runs because she’s too fast for him these days).
As you can see by my smile, I was very happy with my race! 🙂 Jeannie really is amazing #goals!
[…] riding the high from the Garmin Half Marathon in Toledo. Here is the Garmin Half Marathon race recap if you missed it! With the Columbus full marathon coming up in only 4 weeks (Oct 19), […]
Well done! I love the cute Garmin-themed mile markers etc. looks like they did well and organised it nicely.
Well, I’m a little late here! This sounds like a great race, AND you did great! Nice consistent splits, and you even ran up the hill at the end (when I see other people walking, my brain tries to convince me to walk too). I’m not surprised that Garmin did such a good job with this.