Half Merrython 2.62 miler (race) + Half Marathon (easy)
Dynamic stretching then 1.59 mile wu with 3x100m strides. This is my first race in the Kinvaras since my stress fracture! Wahoo!! Love them! I set out at a comfortably fast pace. Then noticed after about 0.2 mi my watch said I was running 6:15 pace. I tried to pull back behind a guy to draft (it was kinda windy in Cape Ann...go figure). But he was going to slow so I just passed and stuck behind the first female. She glanced back and saw me, then took off a bit. I decided to maintain and not push it. With about 0.4 mile to go I glanced back and saw no one so figured I'd win 2nd place female!! Then when I turned a corner with 0.2 mi to go a girl flew past me. I had no gas, boo. I finished in 19:03 with a gps distance of 2.77 miles.
Again?! Really? My Chicago gps watch was off 0.45 miles in the last 10k I ran - turns out we were misdirected by the course marshalls. Today my Boston gps watch was off 0.15 miles. It seems like a lot for such a short race. I'm pretty sure the course was long. The course basically looked stretched from the start, finish, and middle turn around when I compared the course map to what I ran. I compared the top three male finishers times to their recent 5ks too. They were quite a bit slower for all top three guys and one guy had run 4 5ks very consistently between 5:56 to 6:04 min/mi pace (18:29, 18:39, 18:54, 18:36) and today he ran 6:17 min/mi pace. If the course really was 2.77 mi, he ran 5:56 min/mi pace. Another guy ran close to a recent 6 miler (5:58 min/mi pace) by posting 5:59 min/mi.
I don't know if I really ran a 6:53 min/mi AP (garmin) today or a 7:16 min/mi AP (official). If my gps is correct, this would mark the first mile I ran sub 7 since my stress fracture, but I don't know if it's true!!
1.08 miles between races to keep things warm.
Low and behold the half marathon measured 12.97 mi based on garmin. This was an "easy" pace run for me. Even though the pace felt easy and I kept trying to slow things down, my legs were hurting so bad towards the end from the elevation change. A much needed training run to prepare me for B2B!! 8:47 min/mi AP (garmin) or 8:41 min/mi AP (official). 0.22 mi shake out/cd.
Half marathon elevation gain: 458 ft
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