The Long Run

BRASS TAP HALF MARATHON - Ozone, FL

1:30:32, 5th overall, 4th male, 1st place age group. I have to go back to Dec 2013 for a faster time.

Last year's time was 1:34:00. I had two goals this year - run faster than 1:34:00 and at least run the first 3 miles at 6:59 or faster. I managed to run the first 9 miles at 6:59 or faster.

Miles 1-9: 6:37, 6:48, 6:47, 6:48, 6:47, 6:52, 6:46, 6:57, 6:58

Into the second mile, as the crowd thinned out and the three fastest guys were way out in front, I was trailing closely behind the first place female.  The course winds through town, the does an out and back on the Pinellas trail, crossing over a pedestrian bridge, then doing a 180 turn, back over the bridge and looping back through the town.

So, about mile 5 or so, I finally caught up to first place female (named Christina), go slightly in front of her and very promptly missed a turn.  I could see arrows on the asphalt pointing which way to go but for some reason I thought those were only for the second loop.  There was a policeman there.  I suddenly was not sure about my second guessing the arrows, said something to Christina who asked the policeman who said that yes, we were going the wrong way (he figured we knew what we were doing).  Fortunately, we didn't go that far out of the way.  I still felt bad for messing up just as I took the lead.

However, I think we had been slowing down slightly and now both picked it up maybe due to the panic.  I got slightly ahead of her again as we did the out and back near the bridge.  Mile 9 marker was just before the bridge.  I was ahead slightly but then slowed down and she passed me on the way down.  I was suddenly running about a 7:45 pace.

Miles 10,11, and 12: 7:26, 7:24, 7:15

 I followed Christina, tried to not stay too far back and slowly picked it up and hit mile 10 at 7:26, did a little bit better the next mile at 7:24, and same with mile 12.  We were nearly side by side at the mile 12 marker and both picked it up.  She pulled a little bit ahead as we ran headed toward the finish line, with last mile split for me at 6:49.

Course is a little bit short, but it was also last year when I ran 1:34:00, and the year before when I ran 1:30:50, with this year's race 1:30:32 (Christina got 1:30:25).  I was grateful for being able to race against and work with Christina on the course.  With the three fastest guys way out in front and the two of us ahead of most of the others, it would have been a tougher race if I didn't have anyone to chase and it seemed to help her, too.

We chatted a little bit after the race and I heard her mention the overall winner's (1:14:29) name was Michael MacDonald, whose name sounded familiar (from fastrunningblog.com!!).  So, I said hi to him and asked if he had a blog here.  Yes, indeed, same person.  Great meeting another FRB'er

5.33 mi, 55:23, 10:23 avg, HR 122 avg, 139 max

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders and Stella on the leash.  We ran up Starkey Blvd on the bike path to the water stop at Aristide.  First longer run for Stella since I fell while running with her.  This morning's run was slightly longer and I took it especially easy while going over the bridge.  Nice and cool morning and it all worked out.

AM - 3.33 mi, 34:40, 10:25 avg

Ran with  Stella in the neighborhood.  It was extra difficult as she was being extremely antsy.  Dogs were out of their routine since Sammy was having surgery and I couldn't feed them (I fed Stella after taking Sammy to the vet).  So, did the best I could with the run.  There was much stopping and sniffing and such.

PM - 1.7 mi, 24:33, 14:26 avg

It was almost a run, more of a run/walk.  Tried to make up a little bit for such a light morning.  Took Stella around the neighborhodd loop.

7.52 mi, 1:08:34, 9:07 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders.  Daisy was there and hadn't left yet so we ran together.  My garmin battery died at about 2.7 miles into the run but I was able to get her data after the run.  We ran to the end of Haltata and then back.  Air was cool but very humid, causing a chill if you stopped very long, but it sure did look nice across the fields when it started getting light out.  Had a good chat with Daisy while running and the time passed quickly.

AM - 6.11 mi, 57:30, 9:24 avg, HR 123 avg, 159 max

Ran in the neighborhood from my house and out past the golf course.  Did 4.3 miles Stella who was much better today than on Wednesday with things a little bit back to normal for her.  After I dropped her off I ran a little bit farther and did 10 x 25 second strides with 50 second jogs in between.

PM - 1.7 mi, 22:06, 13:00 avg

Did a run/walk in the evening with Stella around the loop, this time was a little bit more running than last time and the dropping pick up was much faster.

12.25 mi, 1:50:00, 8:59 avg, HR 131 avg, 155 max

Ran in Starkey Park this morning, out and back on the bike trail.  For the first 6 miles I stuck pretty closely to keeping a HR of 131 or below.  For the next 5 miles, bumped it up to 136 avg (which is still within MAF range if I add 5 beats assuming I'm in better shape now).  The last mile I picked it up for variety to get the average below 9:00 (it had been about a 9:05 average up until then, so with last mile at 7:55, brought it down to 8:59).