Orange Blossom Half Marathon Race Report
Weather: 65 degrees, humid, misty turning into cloudy, wet pavement, gentle, constant breeze, formerly USATF certified course (out-dated).
Final time: 1:17:55 watch time, 1:17:57 gun time, 5:57 avg. per mile
Day 2 of the half-marathon weekend of death. This time the race was in the middle of nowhere, but it was a free gift, so, worth the 50 minute drive and sore legs from the race yesterday. I had looked at the times the last two years, the winner having been in the 1:23-1:24 range, so I figured a 6:15-6:20 pace would be fine to run at and hopefully be successful at staying healthy/not getting hurt while giving myself an opportunity to win. I stayed back mile one, letting a couple of runners select their paces- I have never ran a conservative effort before, so this was new and very fun in a tactical sense. They were all running at a 6:05 pace through mile 1, so I decided to roll into the lead and drop it to 6:00 to see if there were any takers, and 2 runners followed. I did not expect this- so much for a 6:20 pace.
Mile 4 was weird- I had built a 15 second lead at about a 5:50 pace, trying to shake 2nd and third while making sure to stay within myself. Meanwhile, it had rained a bit again this morning, and the road was slick, and the poor lead biker was crossing some railroad tracks and took a dive right in front of me. Bike slid out, water bottle went flying, and he slid across the pavement. I stopped to help him and grab his bike, and fortunately he was quick to jump up. I checked with him to make sure he was okay, which he said yes, but the fall looked rough, so I stayed a bit to make sure. The second place guy had caught up as well by that point, and I think he didn't know what to do, as the biker tried to gather himself, so he kept going, and I followed suit behind him. I kept glancing back until he had caught back up to us on the bike to lead us again, and felt like a jerk for my decision to keep running until he caught back up. If he stayed down I don't know what I would've done, but I hope I would've gone to get help. I knew the biker was embarrassed, so I made a note to thank him at the end of the race and an even bigger note to not bring up the fall. I'd hate someone calling me out on that.
Refocusing, I now had lost my lead, but figured keeping the 6:00 pace would be fine. By mile 7, I hadn't heard footsteps in a while, but decided to turn around anyway- only to see the second place guy not even 8 seconds behind me at most! This sent adrenaline into me- I was not expecting this based on the earlier miles, but I knew then I had to get into gear or else he'd rightfully kick my butt.
Miles 8-11 I dropped the pace accordingly. Fortunately, this helped and he eventually fell 2 minutes back. Having a more comfortable lead was nice, as the police had not securely blocked traffic on the road, so cars were weaving in and out, and with other runners on the opposite side (out and back course), tangents were impossible today, so it could've gotten hairy. I was hoping for a decent negative split for the race but geez, not to be shocked into that kind of pace like I was. I was able to calm it down the last two miles, and hit the finish. Lucky to win this one. Also learned all bikers should wear helmets. And ride perpendicularly over railroad tracks. Needless to say, I tiptoed over the railroad tracks when I crossed :)
Mile splits:
Mile 1) 6:05
2) 6:01
3) 5:58
4) 6:01
5) 5:56
6) 5:59
7) 6:05
8) 5:47
9) 5:50
10) 5:46
11) 5:52
12) 6:00
13) 6:01
Finish) 0:34 I think the pad messed up, since I was about 2 seconds off the start line.
first 6.55miles split (halfway): 39:21, second 6.55miles: 38:34
Final time: 1:17:55 watch time, 1:17:57 gun time, 5:57 avg. per mile
| 