We decided late Friday night to run the Memorial Day Classic half marathon in Syracuse put on by Striders Running Store. It has been a long time since I have been in race mode so the plan was to dip my toe in the racing waters. Quite frankly, I have been afraid to race because I didn't want the discouragement of the results. Didn't want to kill myself but wanted to give a good, solid effort. My plan was to run 7:15/mile and see how it felt. The course is pancake flat so would give me honest feedback on my fitness level. The race started and nobody was interested in running fast. I ended up leading for the first 3/4 mile which forced me to run a little faster than planned. Modified my goal and locked in 7:00/mile pace and tried to maintain that the rest of the way. At times, it felt a bit forced. When it did, I would modify my stride to get in a more comfortable rythmn. Focused on shorter quicker strides instead of my typical long, loping strides. Every mile was between 6:56 and 7:01 until mile 12. At that point, there were 2 runners that were slowly coming back to me that I wanted to catch. Switched gears and started to lengthen my stride to pick up the pace. Got by them, moved into fourth place and just tried to hold on to the end. Last 2 miles were 6:40 and 6:45 and I finished in 1:31:11, missing 3rd place by 9 seconds. I only had one low moment during the 11th mile. I certainly had plenty in the tank at the end but the effort was solid the entire race and a good indication that I am moving in the right direction. It's a strange feeling being happy with a 1:31 half but I'm accepting my place in my third running life. | 