Fun trail Half Marathon, basically a training run for Oct. marathon. Started out in 5th and held that for the first 4 miles, when I was joined/passed by a good friend who was also running. He really helped me out pushing the pace from Miles 4-8, where I had to do frequent 'bursts of speed' to stick with him. We chatted some, but that was killing me going up the hills! Had I been out there alone through this section, there is no way I would have maintained the pace he carried us to. We passed one guy in this section ... the other 3 were never in my sight after Mile 2 of the race.
At Mile 8, he briefly stopped for water, and I continued figuring he would be right behind me, as he only stopped a few seconds, surely he was no more than 10 yards behind me ... this happened to be on a brief downhill pavement section, which I strided out, figuring it was my turn to pull the load for a bit. I realized he was slowly dropping back, and at about 8.5 the trail took a looping turn, so when I saw him about 50 back, I yelled out for him to keep pace with me! I was just about to slow down a little and wait for him, when I saw another runner only about 20 yards behind him running strong. I felt bad because I really wanted to wait and run with him, but by the time he would have caught me, the other guy would have been out in front and off to the races. I figured if he had it in him, he would pace with the guy passing him in pursuit of me. I held pace and continued on. Sure enough, next time I looked back, the guy was about 50 behind me & my friend about 20 behind him ... I kicked it up a notch as I did not want the guy getting closer! For the next 4 miles I played a little game of cat and mouse with him ... every time he got within 50 yards, I would throw in a burst of speed after rounding a corner ... so by the time he saw me again, my lead would have increased. This happened at least 6 times ... I know he had to be pushing hard as he was closing the gap on me ... but my spurts would just lengthen it back out. Had to be frustrating for him, and I figured if he ever put down enough to catch me, I would crush him in the last half mile. I fought off the urge to let him catch me just so I could race him at the end, and held the comfortable lead to the end. His pursuit really helped me keep the effort up the last 4 miles, again ... if I had been out there alone, I would have run the same pace, but without all the surges ... which made it a more beneficial training run ... forcing me to maintain pace when I was more winded/fatigued from the sprints. All in all, I was pleased with the pace, effort, and result - and it was good race prep for my marathon. The weather was totally awesome ... mid 50 at start, low 60's at finish. I am happy when I am running in cooler weather!!
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