Holy crap! I've been running faster lately, but I didn't expect this. I've run this race twice before and finished in 2:02 and 1:57. This isn't supposed to be the kind of race you PR, but I brought home my best half marathon time ever. The race had a pirate theme this year, so I put on a stupid looking scull and crossbone headband and velcroed a plastic sword to my running shorts. The sword fell off somewhere in the first 50 yards, but by then I was in race mode and could care less about the pirate thing. I started out at a pretty quick pace, 6:33 in the first mile. Then the hill started. I figured I'd just keep pushing until I got tired. I never really got tired. The only problem was a grinding in my gut. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich about an hour before the race. Usually that settles in my stomach pretty good, but apparently not this time. I just kept reminding myself that it always goes away. This time it kept up for about a half hour or more. I didn't quit feeling it until after I was over the top.
The uphill miles were in the 7-something to 8-something range. Mile 8 was 9:16. My average pace at the top was about 8 flat. I reached the summit in 1:06:49 and then picked up the pace. I got passed on the way down by a few younger, faster people and one guy who looked like a PX90 ad but held a pace in the 6:20s until the last mile where I dropped down to 6:51. Here's the splits from my garmin. Really happy with my time and I had fun too. I rode with two other guys. Neil reached his goal of finishing under 2 hours and Brian crashed, burned and puked. But he has a good story to tell.
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