Total time: 1:35:55
New PR by 21 seconds
Pace: 7:19
1st Place in Age Division
When I signed up for this race I planned to run it for fun and not worry about my time, but as usual the closer the race got the more my competitive nature kicked in and I started setting goals in my head but all along I was really unsure about I could do. Since my hip problem, 10 weeks ago, I have only had four good weeks of running training (between 24 and 30 miles of running) but my biking miles for the ten weeks has been about 150 miles per week. This week I ran pretty hard Monday and biked really hard on Tuesday. I was very sore after that but as I tapered and rested for the rest of the week I began to feel really good and by this morning felt great!
Still not knowing what to expect I decided to try and run the first three miles at about a 7:30 pace (the first three miles of the race is uphill) and see how I felt after that and determine what to do next.
It was 42 degrees this morning when I got the race so I stayed in my car until they played the national anthem. At that point I jumped out of my car and jogged to the starting chute to find myself at the back of about 1,500 people. As usual I found myself ducking, dodging and pushing people for the first mile to try and keep up my 7:30 pace. After the first mile things cleared out and I had no problem keeping stride. The first mile ended up being 7:24 (good). For some reason I picked up the pace on mile 2…I think it had a little more flat and I ended up running a 7:16. The third mile was fairly steep and I slowed back to 7:24 giving me a little faster average on the first three miles than I had planned. At this point, as I was feeling pretty good I decided to go ahead and pick up the pace for a while. Miles 4 thru 6 were the flattest part of the course and I just cruised to the turn-around point with times of 7:18, 7:16 and 7:18. Mile 7 thru 9 were a little faster at 7:12, 7:11 and 7:12. I was still feeling pretty good at this point and my HR had leveled off for the most part. Then came the dreaded mile 10…! Mile 10 going back was all up hill and for some reason I really lost focus at this point. I ended up running a 7:55 on this mile and beginning to think I had burned myself out. At the end of this mile I began to pray for God to give me the strength to competed to the best of my ability and to give me strength to finish strong…. What do you know I ran a 7:02 on mile 11! Mile 12 was slightly downhill and I kept a good pace at 7:17. I ran mile 13 about the same pace as mile 12 except for at the half mile mark I began to kick to finish that mile at 6:48, my fastest mile of the whole race. When I got to the finish line I forgot to press my stop button on my garmin so my .1 time was wrong. I did the math and calculated I ran it in 1:22. That time doesn’t seem right but for my total time to add up to the official time that’s what it says it should be. There were two sharp 90 degree turns right at the end of the race that may have slowed me down some too.
I now believe I can run a 7:00-7:10 pace in my next Half Marathon. Overall I am very happy with my performance because it give me confidence to achieve this goal.
2 Corinthians 5:7
6-8That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming. | 