Earth Day Challenge Half Marathon

I decided to follow up last week's PR effort in Xenia with a nice, easy run at the Earth Day Challenge at Kenyon College in nearby Gambier, OH.  This is only the third time I've ran half marathons on consecutive weekends.  This trick worked for me last year when I followed up the Pro Football HOF Half with the Capital City Half and the Columbus Half with the Buckeye Half.  I certainly was not looking to attempt a PR at a third straight race, but was rather looking for a solid effort prior to running the 3-Way at the Flying Pig Marathon in two weeks.  This also counted as my 45th half marathon effort.

GF did not attend this race (some people need sleep?!) but she did of course do a post (pre?) race dance for me.  GF is the best!  I headed out for the easy 40 minute drive to Gambier and was immediately struck by the beauty of the Kenyon campus.  It's a very cool campus and provided us with some beautiful early miles.  Packet pickup was a breeze inside the athletic center and we soon lined up on the college track.  I spotted a fellow Half Fanatic (I recently joined) and we chatted about upcoming races, including one we're both doing in the Fall.  I'm looking forward to meeting more Half Fanatics at future races.

I should mention that I did something at this race that I had never done in my previous 44 half marathons.  I decided to leave my iPod in the car and simply go by feel in this one.  My normal routine is to listen to music during a race of ten miles or more.  It's a security blanket knowing the right song will come on at the right time.  But I sometimes zone out too much and forget to check out the course.  I left the iPod in the car and it didn't have a negative affect on my race at all.

Here's my race report.

Miles 1-5: These were the toughest miles of the race.  We ran around most of the track and headed into campus.  The first mile was a bit of a cluster as the trail was quite narrow and there was a good number or runners.  A half mile in was one of the steepest hills I've had the pleasure of running in quite some time.  It didn't last a long time but you could tell it was there.  We leveled out and headed through the heart of the campus on a gravel path for another half mile or so.  My time was around 8:46 for the first mile, so I was definitely taking it easy early on.  I planned on increasing my pace to 8:00 miles after the course started to open up.  We made a loop through Gambier and hit a lot of rolling hills throughout the first four miles.  Finally, we made our way to the Kokosing Gap Trail, an asphalt bike trail leading out of town, right before the five mile mark.  Here are the first five splits: 1 (8:46), 2 (7:54), 3 (7:20), 4 (7:19), 5 (7:27).  I guess my normal pace is around 7:20-7:30 nowadays.

Miles 6-10: Not much to report on this part of the course.  We stayed on the Kokosing Gap Trail until the turnaround point around 8.5 miles into the race.  This was a pretty bike path as we enjoyed nice views of the Kokosing River.  I was able to pass a few runners until the turnaround point, but things had spread out to the point where it seemed more like a training run.  Here are the splits: 6 (7:14), 7 (7:28), 8 (7:02), 9 (7:25), 10 (7:06).  I seem to have a mile in my normal range and then one twenty seconds or so faster.  I wish I could be more consistent and run them all in the 7:20-7:25 range.

Miles 11-13.1:  We finished up the last portion of the Kokosing Gap Trail and made our way back to Gambier with a mile left.  The course was just as pretty entering Gambier as it was leaving the town.  There was nobody near me, but I was able to push it a bit and cruise in for an excellent time of 1:38:28.  Here are the final splits: 11 (7:11), 12 (7:05), 13 (7:08), 13.1 (1:59).  The course measured a bit long for me, but only about 1/10 mile.  I was 15/213 overall and 6/26 in my age group.

This was an excellent effort at a race I wasn't racing.  I wound up cruising to my fourth fastest half marathon out of 45 attempts.  My current sub-1:50 streak was also extended to ten races.  I'm not sure I'll be keeping that up as Skyline 3-Way at the Flying Pig will be a tough one.

GF Training Update

GF had an extraordinary week!  She completed two mile speedwork sessions and followed them up with a fantastic effort on the bike path yesterday.  GF cruised to a 44:56 for three miles!  She's consistently taking off 15-20 seconds every time we complete a time trial.  I'm very confident she'll shatter her former PR at the Flying Pig in two weeks!

Next race: Flying Pig 5K/10K/Half Marathon- Cincinnati, OH

Ohio River Road Runners Club Half Marathon

GF and I headed to the Dayton area for this small and amazing race in Xenia.  We stayed in Yellow Springs, a funky and fun village just minutes from the race, at the Arthur Morgan House Bed and Breakfast.  This gave the weekend a vacation feel and both GF and I loved the B&B.  Highly recommended!

This is my fourth time running this race as it is my absolute favorite half.  You can check out my reports from 2011, 2012, and 2014.  I always run well here and know the course like the back of my hand.  There are a few rolling hills early in the race, but for the most part this one is flat and fast.  The race is growing, too!  There were 522 runners in the half and 168 in the full for the 2011 running.  Compare that to 990 in the half and 269 in this year's event.  The cost of $25, terrific organization, and the fact that the race is in close proximity to Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus helps.

GF and I arrived about 45 minutes from the start and I was already feeling good.  Usually I'm quite nervous for a goal race, especially considering I had an unexpected PR at the Three Creeks Half Marathon last month.  But I felt good because I had already been on this course.

GF took a few pics to commemorate half number forty-four!

Miles 1-5: I felt very good from the beginning.  We started out from the YMCA and headed north for about a mile or so before making a small loop, heading back by the Y, and out toward the bike path.  I started out strong.  Too strong.  This is a fast portion of the course, but we started in with some hills during the third mile.  There's a brief section on the bike path, then we make our way on some country roads.  The hills  aren't terrible, but they can seem long if you started out too fast.  We loop back to the bike path at mile four and start in on some long, flat straightaways.  Here are the first five splits: 1 (7:17), 2 (6:58!), 3 (7:16), 4 (7:06), 5 (7:17).  I like the looks of miles 1, 3 and 5.  The other two are way too fast for so early in a half.  I was shooting for a PR but wondered how long it would take to crap out.  These splits are much faster than at Three Creeks.

Miles 6-10: I was feeling good but felt those first five.  We continued down the bike path until a left turn onto a different section moving toward Central State University.  I banked some more time here and passed a few runners.  There's a turnaround about 3/4 mile and then we head back.  I was surprised there weren't more people in front of me as the ORRRC races are extremely competitive.  We turned, headed back, and made a right turn back toward Xenia at the nine mile mark.  This is where the wheels started to feel the race.  I actually started sprinkling in some 15 second walk breaks as my quads were killing me.  Here are the splits for miles 6-10: 6 (7:23), 7 (7:06), 8 (7:10), 9 (7:29), 10 (7:28).  You can tell I was slowing down at miles nine and ten, but these are still incredible splits for me in a half.  I knew a PR was still a possibility as I was well under 1:15 at the ten mile mark.

Miles 11-13.1:  I was still feeling this race and sprinkled in a few breaks during mile 11.  The PR was still there, but I was going to have to push my pace during the last mile.  There were a few other runners around, so I simply concentrated on moving forward and trying to pick them off.  We turned back toward the YMCA with about a quarter mile left and made our way uphill to the finish.  I gave it whatever I had left, then kicked it in some more when I saw GF cheering and doing her celebratory dance.  I sprinted across the finish to my third PR of the year!  My splits for the last few miles were: 11 (7:38), 12 (7:46), 13 (6:56!), and 13.1 (1:28).  This gave me a new PR of 1:36:24.

I'm getting ever so close to my goal of 1:35.  This race took a lot out of me as I was pretty incoherent for the rest of the day.  Had I paced properly, I probably could have come in another 30 seconds faster.  Running my third PR of the year when it's only April is pretty amazing.  This new gear feels pretty good!  I'm looking at doing a half as a training run next week and shooting for the 1:45-1:47 range.

GF Training Update

GF continues her quest for a new PR and she is well on her way!  We did a two mile speedwork session and she killed it in 31:00.  We also went out to the bike path in Yellow Springs on Saturday and did a three mile time trial.  She started off a bit fast with a downhill first half.  The second half was at a slight grade but enough to feel it.  She still came in with a personal best of 46:15!  We are both counting down to the Flying Pig and I would not be surprised to see her shatter her personal best.  We're going to go out again a few times this week for some speedwork/time trial sessions.

Next race: Earth Day Challenge Half Marathon- Gambier, OH