Philippians 4:13

I ran the Fit 4 Life Half Marathon in Boise today (over there for Kami's Goldilock's Century Ride...more on that later). 

1st Overall in 1:16:11 on a legit course, lots of little rollers and twists and turns on a HUMID day so I am happy with this result.  I would have liked to be in the 1:15, but a good time on a solid course (third fastest HM time!).  

A warm and VERY humid morning.  Saw Chad Robinson before the start and did a 2 mile warmup with him, nice to meet you Chad.  Lining up saw a few fast looking runners including the champ from the last 2 years and a couple others all saying they wanted to run around 1:17 so this was going to turn into a competition!  Good, easier to run faster when you have others pushing you.

At the gun for the first 2 miles we had a group of 6 guys running together.  At the 2 mile mark a runner started to pull away, I looked at the pace and saw we were running fairly easy so I caught up to him and passed him by mile 3.  By mile 4 I had dropped him and had about a 1.5 minute lead at the halfway turnaround.  I had a bit of a mental moment around miles 2-4 where my mind was saying that I didn't enjoy racing and top 5 is ok...then I scolded myself and took the lead in the race to pop out of this malaise.

On the way back I kept up the pace in the humid conditions and was able to keep running strong through the finish in 1:16:11.  Second place was about 3 minutes back so I had a solid win today...a good birthday present to me!! 

Splits: 5:49, 5:47, 5:47, 5:54, 5:52, 5:54, 5:45, 5:47, 5:51, 5:50, 5:50, 5:50, 0:25 (0.1)

The second place guy was the winner of the 2012 Race to Robie Creek HM, third place was a 17 year old first time HM'er (guy who start to pull away at mile 2...a strong run for him and a good distance future!). 

Sat around afterwards and chatted with other folks waiting for the awards ceremony, drank a few beers and made some new friends.  Great chatting with Brian Baker and his wife, Jeff Ulmer (RD), Chad, and a few others.  Then it was off to find Kami on her century ride.

Kami rocked it, finishing at the front of the lead group and looking strong!  She led the first 7 miles of the ride and had her own personal police escort closing the intersections for her...very cool!   She did awesome today and learned alot about riding in large groups of bad riders. 

What a great birthday today, but glad to be home and with the kids.