Great Potato Half Marathon - 1:23 - 11th place
I am pretty happy with this performance. It was my first race in 2 years (last race was the 2014 version of this race) and it was actually an awesome feeling to be doing it again. My running has not been super, but I've been running semi-consistently at least and felt like a 1:22 - 1:23 would be about fair.
After rain Friday night and earlier Saturday morning it ended up being a great morning to race. Breezy, cool and no rain. Got bused to the start with a few minutes to spare, and set off with a plan to run 6:15s - 6:20s the whole way. It was a pretty good field for a local Boise race and there was a pretty good pack for the first two miles. However, at the end of mile 2 my calves started feeling like they were going to cramp. Super discouraging, but nobody to blame but me. I should have worn the Pumas a few more times for some longer efforts, and done some longer runs in general!
Despite the calves cramping and both feet going numb by mile 6, I held a pretty good pace and only got passed by two people, while managing to pick off a few runners in the last few miles. All of my splits ranged from 6:03 to 6:21 with at least 10 miles between 6:10 and 6:19. Super consistent. I didn't really get to race too much as my legs/feet were shot, but I held form pretty well and kept everything together.
I love the YMCA but their races aren't known for their accuracy. After a detour around the Broadway Bridge construction, it was becoming clear the course was looking to be long. I finished with a 1:23:52 for 13.49 miles on my GPS. A friend right behind me had it as only 13.39 but regardless it was long. Not a big deal, but given my splits I would have been at a 1:21 for an accurate course which I would have been very happy about.
A good starting point for me as my first race as a master. I would like to add another 20 miles per week and try to take off a few minutes or even train for a marathon in the fall. We'll see where it goes. Life is incredibly busy right now with 3 young kids. I'm just glad to be running and mostly healthy.
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