Rolling Irish Half Marathon. 13.11 miles. It’s a certified course; I had 13.17 on my Garmin. GPS error and tangents probably make up the .06 miles. This is a tough hilly course on mostly dirt roads. I haven’t been very consistent lately, so I wasn’t expecting a stellar time. In fact, this is the first ½ mary I’ve run since 1997. It was about 45 degrees, breezy and overcast.
Mile 1. 6:54. Flat and paved. Leaders are already gone; a couple of kids from some small college. I think they ran around 1:14 or so. Pretty quick for this course. I felt good. Loren hung back with me. He’s recovering from bronchitis and was hacking up some awful stuff.
Mile 2. 6:51. Dirt and rolling. Loren and I are still together.
Mile 3. 6:24. Pretty big downhill. It’s a loop course, so I’m already thinking about paying back this downhill later.
Mile 4. 7:09. Gradual uphill. This wasn’t too bad, but I know the tough stuff is not until miles 6 – 9. Loren took off. He ended up running 6:00s for the rest of the race. I think he finished 5th or 6th.
Mile 5. 5:53. Falling off a cliff. Who though 5:53 would be a screaming fast mile for me? Oh well, I’ll worry about that later. Time to get ready for the uphill.
Mile 6. 6:36. Leveled out and turned to pavement.
Mile 7. 7:49. Did I mention the hills yet? Brutal hills. At one point I ran a quarter in 2:30! Huffing and puffing and using my hands on my knees a little. I’m starting to pay for taking 3 or 4 days off each week over the last 2 months!
Mile 8. 7:35. We’re not out of the woods yet. I’m still paying my penance for taking too much time off. At least I had time in the bank from the downhills earlier. I’m still better than 7:00 pace.
Mile 9. 7:52. The worst yet! The course markers dished out a little bit of cruelty. They made a big chalk smiley face at the crest of a giant hill. I assumed it symbolized the end of the uphills. Wrong. I turned the corner and discovered more hills! What a heartbreak.
Mile 10. 6:39. Finally done with the big hills. Back to rollers. Unfortunately, I’ve developed a pretty bad stitch. I’ll deal with it. Only 3 to go.
Mile 11. 6:54. Rolling hills. My legs are feeling pretty dead by now.
Mile 12. 7:04. Still hanging on.
Mile 13. 6:41. Switched back to pavement. The stitch is really bad by now, but I can see the end.
.17 mi 1:10. I tried to look smooth across this line even though I know I am in shambles.
Total time: 1:31:32. 6:59/mi. for 13.11 miles. I think I was 12th or 13th. I’ll check online once the results are posted. That’s about where I figured I’d be. According to the course tool this is a 6:41 flat effort. I’ll take it. Loren and I are going to start meeting in the mornings a few days a week. I need the motivation, he needs the structure. He ran around 1:22 today while recovering from bronchitis. I hope to catch up to him if I can get out the door every day. | 