I intended to run it as a training run and maintain a 9:30 pace. This would have given me a total time of 2:04. Part of me played with running a sub 2-hour half marathon, but I wanted to be good.
I wore my Leisure Suit cycling jersey, and got many positive comments on it. I checked in and got my timing chip (the kind that goes around the ankle). I felt wierd at first, then I didn’t notice it. I almost brought me mp3 player, but decided to leave it in the car. For a half marathon, I figured there would be people around to talk to. And there were for most of the race. I did take my little digital camera and took some pics along the way.
The race started at 9am. The first part of the race I was going smooth. I actually tried to slow myself down. But I was slowly gaining time to get ahead of my intended pace. I figured I might need this later as the course is pretty hilly. I just looked at the data and saw that I climbed almost 2400 feet over the 13.1 mile course! Wow! And about 60% of the course was on dirt/gravel roads, with the rest on asphault. I tried to walk every mile, but skipped some of them. I took two cups of water at every water stop. I poured one cup over my head, and drank the other. I talked with one guy I knew (Pat) from aikido, but let him go as he was running faster. I hooked up with another couple guys and ran with them until they started slowing down. I left them, and hooked up with another and ran with her for a while, and then caught up with Pat again. We three ran together for a bit, then I pulled away. I hit the last big hill, and kept running most of the way up, taking a couple short walk breaks at the steepest parts. As I crested the hill, I saw that it was possible for me to break 2 hours if I picked up the pace. I ran the last mile or mile and a half at somewhere I think between 7:15-7:30 pace. I kept thinking a walk break would be nice, but I refused to slow down. I was passing people left and right. I was trying to encourage them to go faster. Cmon guys, you can break 2 hours! Only one mile to go….only a half mile to go. I saw the track where the finish was. I seemed so far. I kept going. I finished in 1:59:35 giving me my first sub 2 hour finishing time for a Half Marathon! I ran faster than I intended, but it was a great experience know that I could run faster after running that far!
I got my medal which seems to be ceramic. Kind of cool! They had more runners than they though, and later were giving out brass medals (with no date). I asked about them, and they offered me a brass one instead of my ceramic one, but I declined the offer.
The food selection was good. I got some hot dogs, semi cold pop, and some cookies. Oh and a banana. They also had pasta and some other kinds of fruit.

According to my Garmin 305, my heart rate hit a new max at 196 in the last section!

The pics I tooks can be seen here:
http://robjacob.winkflash.com

Here is the data for the run:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3831707

Posted by Rob in Whatever on September 2nd, 2007 |