long time no post. long time no race.
i woke up this morning and decided to run the local half marathon instead of running solo. i didn't make much time for a warm up but i did see a friend of mine (Kurt) who was running his first race at the event. i wished him well and eventually made my way to the starting line.
the start was a rather informal "GO!" shouted by the race director and we headed north on the parkway. after a half mile, the race turned onto sidewalks so i surged ahead into a pocket where there would be less folks in front of me as we wound our way through Estabrook Park. i rolled through the first mile in a spirited 6:35 and realized that i had inadvertently "jackrabbitted" my start. oh well, too late now.
we did a loop around the park then headed south onto the bike trail. i passed the five mile marker in a few ticks more than thirty three minutes and rolled my way downhill toward the lakefront. i purposefully tried to ease back slightly during this section to catch my breath a bit.
after 3.5 miles of downhill running, we did a 180 back north and headed back uphill on our way back to the park. i grabbed a cup of water from an aid station and after i was finished i was able to throw it (on the run) into the garbage can. two points!! honestly, you've got to entertain yourself a bit when you're facing an uphill climb and your quads are shot.
running uphill back to the park from 8.5 miles to just past 12 miles, i got passed by maybe 8 or 10 other folks who were likely much smarter with their pacing strategy. i kept mustering slightly over seven minute pace and began doing the math for what i'd need to carry in order to finish under ninety minutes.
as we re-entered Estabrook park, i picked up the pace with what little i had left in my legs. the last mile was run on a hilly & curvy path and i slowly began to reel in a guy who had been in front of me. i passed the thirteen mile marker and could see the finish line clock counting. tick. tick. tick. i picked up the pace one last time and flung myself to the finish line in...1:30:01.
you've got to be kidding me. the dreaded :01. it would sound so much better to be able to say "i ran one twenty nine blah blah blah" but instead a 1:30. ugh.
after some water/gatorade i began shuffling my way out for a cool down so i could cheer on Kurt as he finished. i saw him about a half mile from the finish and yelled at him to "finish it off." he had a big grin on his face and seemed to be enjoying himself. after a one mile cool-down shuffle, i took a look at the results posting and noticed i swiped 2nd in the 35-39 age group. 1st place was a long way in front of me but 3rd was right on my heels. i brought home a medal on a ribbon that will likely get passed from daughter to daughter (to daughter to daughter) to wear.
looking back at my race results, today's effort is my 8th fastest half marathon and is almost three and a half minutes slower than my best. for 2009, this was (by far) my best race effort and gives me some hope that i'll be running faster this october.
