Miles 1-5: We started off from Paul Brown Stadium and headed east before crossing a bridge into Kentucky. I think this is a cool part of the race as you hit one of the highlights early on. Plus you get a slight elevation change running toward the river and then up and down the bridge. It's a good way to break into the run. We then headed into Newport, Kentucky and headed west along the river. I felt good during these early miles but held back knowing what was waiting later on. We then hit another bridge heading back to Ohio and kept heading north to downtown Cincinnati. You get a nice variety during the first five miles by starting at the stadium, hitting the bridge, going through Newport, and heading back over the river and into downtown. I was feeling great and nailing some nice splits. Here are the splits for the first five: 7:34, 7:44, 7:37, 7:24, and 7:20.
Miles 6-10: The downtown Cincinnati portion is always fun. I like the experience of going through a major metropolitan downtown in the middle of the road. It's not an experience you can have too often. I felt good as we headed northeast out of downtown and into the hilly section of the course. It's nothing major until about halfway through mile 6 when you get a gradual hill followed by some more pronounced inclines. I love the section near Crohn Conservatory as you continue going up. Once you peak the hill there is a leveling off during which you can see downtown. It's very pretty in the morning, plus you know the worst of the hills are over. There are few up-downs sprinkled in this section of town but nothing major. Then you begin the descent back into town which is a great way to make up some time. I kept my pace conservative during this section. I crapped out some during the last mile in 2016 because I flew downhill during miles 10 and 11. Here are the next five splits: 7:26, 7:38, 7:20, 7:08, and 7:28.
Miles 11-13.1: Still feeling great! I figured at this point that a sub-1:40 was realistic and just wanted to bank some more time. The last 5k went extremely fast and I still felt relatively good. This portion is tough as you fly into downtown then have a strange little out and back on Fifth Street, I believe. It's not long but it's an odd little section of the course. I then made my way back south towards the river before heading west for the finish. I kicked it in and actually hit a 6:35 during the final mile! It felt great and I finished very hard. The final splits were 7:01, 6:51 and 6:35. Insanely fast at the end! The course measured long at 13.4 miles, but I still cruised in for my best Pig at 1:37:40! That took almost two minutes off my 2016 time. I finished 225/12073 overall which is a great showing.
This makes half marathon number 69 for me. Believe it or not, I haven't decided what my 70th half marathon will be. I should probably decide soon as I'd like to get it in this summer. Between now and then I have some 5ks planned.
Next race: Childhood Cancer 5k- Ontario, OH
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