I am way behind on this blog and hope to update the last two races. FW (now W) and I were married a couple weeks ago and we just returned from our honeymoon in Hawaii! Of course that involved a race, but let's get to this local one that delivered in every category.
The 13er is a half marathon in Mansfield. That gave us a ten minute drive on race morning which was great. The weather cooperated as we had a cool front move through the day before the race. We were both impressed with the start/finish area. It felt like a much bigger race as the organizers really went above and beyond to give everyone a good experience. I'll keep my report short since it's been over three weeks since the event.
Miles 1-5: We started in downtown Mansfield and moved west on Park Avenue. This portion was mostly uphill on a slight grade. We then moved through the three parks in town: South, Middle, and North Lake. I felt great early on as this part of the race offered a lot of shade. Mix that with the cooler temps and it felt like a mid-Fall race. I kept with the first group of runners and simply tried to maintain that until we made our way to the B&O Bike Path in Mansfield. It certainly helped that I had run at least the first 7-8 miles of this race either in training or in other races. The first five went like this: (1) 7:31, (2) 7:06, (3) 7:10, (4) 7:25, (5) 7:18. Very consistent first five.
Miles 6-10: More of the bike path. This section offered some great shade and potential for consistent times. But the dreaded hill would make it's appearance shortly after we turned off the path at mile 8. I took it easy on the hill as it felt like it was straight up. And, of course, it's one of those that levels off for a bit only to continue about 20 meters up the road. It was rough. Plus, the sun was now out and we wouldn't have much shade the rest of the way. After the hill, we started making our way back through town. Here are the splits for this five: (6) 7:19, (7) 7:15, (8) 7:35, (9) 8:25, (10) 7:35.
Miles 11-13.1: The final section was through town with some nice downhills mixed in. I didn't do as well as I was hoping at the end. I probably could have taken another minute from my time had I not been beat. We made our way downhill, back to Park Avenue, for the finish. W was cheering me at the finish but I somehow missed her again! Here are the final splits: (11) 7:45, (12) 7:35, (13) 7:05. Not bad, but I would have done much better had the last 2-3 miles been more consistent.
My final time was 1:38:29. I was pleasantly surprised, as this was almost four minutes faster than my goal. I finished 7/103 overall and 4/9 in my age group.
I can't say enough about this race! The course shows the best of Mansfield and is a nice mix of flat and hilly terrains. The people who were out cheering were great and the water stops were some of the best I've seen for a while. The organizers made it feel like a big city race. I plan on running it again next year.
Next race: Maui 10k- Lahaina, Maui, HI
No comments:
Post a Comment