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
No comments:
Post a Comment