Mississippi Blues Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Jackson, Mississippi
United States
Mississippi Track Club
35F / 2C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 42m 58s
Overall Rank = 80/914
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 14/42
Pre-race routine:

Ate some toast with peanut butter and honey. Had a banana. Nothing special.
Event warmup:

Ran with Mary for about 10 min or so with a few :15 pickups. Had a GU about 20 min before the start.
Run
  • 1h 42m 58s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 07m 52s  min/mile
Comments:

Started out a little slower on the first mile than I wanted to. My plan was to stick around 8:00/mile or so then gradually push it. From mile 2 on I did pretty much that. I trained on the course a few times so I was familiar with most of the hills. Key word: MOST. There were some hills in Belhaven that weren't easy.

I was able to stay pretty even paced through miles 2 through 10. With 5k left I decided to use what I had left. Those last 3.1 miles were faster than I thought I'd be able to do. The good news there is that I never felt out of control. My arms, legs and head weren't flailing around and I didn't stumble across the finish. I cruised in to the chute and I think I even gave a bit of a smile for the photographer.

I decided to carry my own hydration (water & NUUN mix) and nutrition (1 GU). The great thing about the aid stations was that some had GU and all had water/gatorade. I'm not a fan of slowing down to grab and drink at the stations so I relied on what I was carrying. It paid off I think but I really should start using the stations.
What would you do differently?:

I enjoyed negative splitting the course, I felt good at the end. But it makes me wonder if a faster pace held throughout the race would've had better results. Regardless, I am very happy with this performance. I also think I need to get more comfortable using the aid stations.
Post race
Warm down:

I didn't really warm-down unless you count heading to the airport for our ski trip. But the 3 days of skiing afterwards were nice!

Event comments:

If you run and you live in MS (or even if you don't!) then you need to run this race. Sure I loved it because it was my first half and the biggest race I've been in but it was still great. The volunteers were awesome. The bands and drumlines were a nice touch. Everything was perfect (even the weather). I will run this again.




Last updated: 2010-09-29 12:00 AM
Running
01:42:58 | 13.1 miles | 07m 52s  min/mile
Age Group: 14/42
Overall: 80/914
Performance: Good
1 08m 29s, 2 07m 58s, 3 07m 49s, 4 08m 09s, 5 07m 58s, 6 08m 04s, 7 08m 05s, 8 07m 58s, 9 07m 42s, 10 07m 59s, 11 07m 42s, 12 07m 22s, 13 06m 35s, 14 01m 13s
Course: Rolling hills. The course rarely stayed flat until the last couple of miles or so.
Keeping cool Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5