Loveland Half Marathon. Had great conditions: upper 30s-low 40s, and no wind. Big downhill race, about 1400' of drop. Given my last race, my main goal was to run around 1:15, and hopefully sneak out with 3rd place.
The race went really well. Got out a little bit too hard (11:10 for first 2 miles, which had quite a bit of uphill), but then settled in on the downhill portion. Let Ryan Donovan and Mike go before 2 miles, and ran alone until Mile 8, when Colin Grueber caught and passed me. Figured it was over then, but Colin did not extent his lead much, so I hung around about 5 seconds behind him for a couple miles. Then caught back up to him around Mile 10, and tried to hang on until I got close enough to make a move. My quads were about gone, so I didn't want to go too early.
Meanwhile, the downhill was really rocking, and the pace increased a lot the last few miles. With about 1.25 miles left, I felt like I was close enough that I would survive, and made my move to back Colin back. Tried to keep the hammer down to the end, and held him off by 2 seconds to secure 3rd. Dovovan was 1:09:35, Mike was 1:12:03, me 1:12:24, and Colin was 1:12:26.
Given I've been running about 40 miles/week, with zero workouts, that was about the best possible outcome for me. Was happy with my time, and glad I raced hard the last half of the race.
Splits: 5:41, 5:29, 5:44, 5:35, 5:33, 5:37, 5:49, 5:29, 5:57, 5:18, 10:32 (2 miles), 5:09, 26s.
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