Buckeye Half Marathon

My "race every other weekend" tour continued on Sunday with the Buckeye Half Marathon at Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Akron, Ohio.  This was a late addition to my race calendar.  Why you ask?  The chance to run a beautiful course helped.  The race swag was an even better reason.  This inexpensive, low-key race included a Columbia quarter-zip fleece in lieu of yet another race shirt.  It doesn't get much better than that!  The group who puts this one on, the Summit Athletic Running Club, knows how to put on a quality event.

My goal was to come in under 1:55 at this one and improve upon my time from the Dayton Corridor Classic two weeks ago.  Despite being in Summit County, this race was very flat and fast.  Getting to the race start was a piece of cake as was packet pick-up.  It was very chilly outside at around 37 degrees.  Not fun for waiting around, but that temperature is perfect once you start running.  I opted for a long-sleeve tech shirt, shorts, gloves, and a hat for this one.  My fingers will still numb through the first six miles!

The course was a double loop, so the first half of the race was perfect for feeling out the course.  We started outside of the Howe Meadow area for the first loop.  I didn't wear my GPS watch for this one and just wanted to go by feel.  The first few miles clicked by as we headed down country roads and I was feeling pretty good.  My pace seemed to be slightly faster than Dayton for the first half of the race.  The fall foliage made for a very pretty run.  There wasn't much crowd support, but those who were out there were enthusiastic and fun.  The water stops were perfect, too, as they were spread out in two mile intervals. 

We made our way back to Howe Meadow for the second loop and, since I was feeling great, I decided to run the second half at a much faster pace.  It felt great which just proves how much I love running in colder weather.  The miles were clicking by at a rapid pace and I was passing a lot of people during the second half.  Again, since I don't have splits for this one, we'll cut to the end.  I really pushed it over the last two miles and came in at a very solid 1:50:21 good for 90/358 overall.

The next race is another late addition to my schedule.  I'm pretty nervous about it as it will be my longest trail race ever, doubling the Twin Creek 10k from last year.

Next race: Horseshoe Hill Climb 20k- Zanesfield, OH