Decided to run the Slacker half marathon today only two weeks after my marathon. Kind of on a limb, but I felt pretty well recovered and thought I could put in a good effort. This course is downhill, starts at around 10,600 feet and drops to around 8800, but it does have several hills and although the downhills are staggering, the rolls keep you on your toes. Even if this is aided, the elevation certainly affected me and so I am just as happy with my time today as with a flat course.
Pre-race -- woke up at 4:18, had my regular pre-race meal, drove to the start line, registered and boarded a bus for the start line. Short trip and was at the loveland ski area very early (6:30 for an 8:00 start). A little chilly until the sun emerged and warmed everything up rapidly. The race started about 10 minutes late as they waited for the last bus to get there. I had heard this may happen because it has happened in the past, but it is still a little annoying when it does happen...but then again, what can you expect from a race that names itself the slacker half marathon? Warmup consisted of about 1.5 miles, very hilly up there, so was breathing pretty heavily in the low oxygen.
Race - fun start as it immediately entered this curshed rock, hiking trail and so it was kind of neat. I could tell from the start this would be a very scenic race and it was the whole time -- a fact I actually tried to notice and enjoy despite my hard effort. My goal was 6:06 per mile so that I could break 1:20, aside from that, I just wanted to see what I could do. Here are my splits:
1- 6:11
2- 6:09 (12:20)
3- 6:03 (18:23, goal was 18:18, nice thing about 6:06's is its easy to determine your marks)
4- 5:57 (24:20, just like that I was right where I needed to be, 6:05 avg pace)
5- 5:58 (30:18, 6:03.5 for the first 5 miles)
6- 6:06 (36:24, first 10k was somewhere near 38:00, halfway point was somewhere over 39:XX, knew I had some cushion but not much)
7 - 6:03 (42:27)
8- 6:01 (48:28) and then I dropped the hammer. It was unconscious, but for some reason, I felt decent and decided to take advantage of the course and put down some hard miles. I was all alone after the 4 mile mark, and so this was basically a solo training effort, but I think at mile 8 I remembered it was a race!
9- 5:51 (54:19, 6:02 avg)
10- 5:53 (1:00:12 for the 10 mile mark, 6:01 avg pace. My goal had me coming through here at 1:01:00, so had 48 seconds cushion at this point, Just 5k to go - my legs were heavy on the flat and hill sections, probably residual soreness from the full, but I got tough and kept walloping the downhills.
11- 5:57 (1:06:09)
12- 5:45 (1:11:54, 5:59 avg pace) probably in uncharted territory here, I think I may have hit a 20k PR, but without the actualy split, it is unclear. In my PR a few years back, I think I was around 1:14 low at 20k, should have been very close today.
13- 6:02 (1:17:56)
loose change -- :51 (For whatever reason at 12.8, my body completely quit and the last .3 was as hard as any race I've ever done, but I still managed to cross in 1:18:47, my 2nd best time ever, around 32 seconds slower than my PR)
Total -- 1:18:47, 6:00 pace
Post-race -- Very happy with this effort and the result. I came in hoping to go under 1:20 and came away breaking 1:19. I also finished 3rd overall! The course was beautiful, the weather was warm, but not terrible, I hydrated well and I felt comfortable in the first half of the race to be able to open it up in the second half. My watch said I set a new 10k best (according to its not-all inclusive memory) of 36:11, so somewhere (probably the 2nd half before the last .1), I ran pretty good splits. Regardless, my negative split is pretty clear and substantial (probably around 50 seconds to a minute I would guess). The 4 miles 9-12 were split at 23:26, 5:53 avg pace - Several years ago when I was having trouble with my mileage, I distinctly remember these miles usually being my roughest in a race, now they were my fastest and I am happy with the surge I was able to muster at that portion of the race! Had some pretty sore feet for the last 3 miles, felt like I was landing on a marble every step on my right heel and I now have a substantial blister there - I don't usually heal-strike, but with the downhill I must have been braking hard! 1.XX cooldown, very slow and easy - stuck around for the awards which took quite a while - got a pretty huge medal for 3rd overall. Neat race, awesome scenery, near PR pace - felt good to get back under 1:20 and 1:19 as I haven't been in that territory since Germany in 2012. May get one more 5k in this session before resetting.
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