Last Chance for Boston Half Marathon

This was a pleasant surprise of a race.  GF and I headed to Dublin for this race that I actually vowed to never again run (see my 2011 report here).  However, I wanted to set up a bunch of races in winter and spring in an attempt to get 10 half marathons in this year.  My report will be slightly different than usual because the course is a one mile loop.  Nothing to report there.  Here are some thoughts on this race:

Pros

This is one of the few half marathon options in Ohio during the winter.

You certainly learn the course after a couple laps.

The "course" is pancake flat.

Spectators (GF!) can watch a LOT of the race.

Accurate splits for every mile of the race.

Cons

It was 17 degrees outside.

It's hard to pace yourself because there are so many races at once.  There's a full, half, 10k, 5k, marathon relay, and half relay.  

It was 17 degrees outside.

While a flat race, the course gets dull pretty quickly.

It was 17 degrees outside.

Did I happen to mention it was 17 degrees?  I did?  Good.  Because it was.  GF reported this to me after the race.  I would have been tempted to put a big ol' DNF after my name had I known that prior to the race.  But I surprisingly warmed up only a couple miles into this one.  GF also wanted to wipe the ice out of my beard every time I passed her.  :)

There's not much to report other than I ran a GREAT race.  Seriously, I'm not sure where this is coming from, other than my amazing GF supporting me at all these races.  I ran splits that looked eerily similar to the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon.  It was hard to hit the tangents with all the other races going on, so I had the course at 13.24 miles.  Since I have splits for every single mile, let's look at those.  The race starts .1 mile behind the finish line, so we do that first and then start in on the miles.  That's why lap one is so fast.

Lap 1- 0:57          Lap 2- 7:49           Lap 3- 7:45          Lap 4- 7:36           Lap 5- 7:40

Lap 6- 7:32          Lap 7- 7:44           Lap 8- 7:45          Lap 9- 7:36           Lap 10- 7:30

Lap 11- 7:38        Lap 12- 7:42         Lap 13- 7:27        Lap 14- 7:11

Not bad at all.  I ran consistent times and never had a mile above 7:49.  I was able to run some negative splits toward the end.  My overall time was 1:39:38 which is good enough for my third fastest half and 17/144 overall.  

But it came with a price.  GF was feeling under the weather prior to the race and, after watching roughly half of my race, got worse.  I also got ill (did I mention it was 17 degrees?) but we're both on the mend.  

I originally thought of doing a 5k in March, but instead I'll take a break until my next half at the end of the month.

Next race: Three Creeks Half Marathon- Groveport, OH