Maryland Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

My goal for this race was to simply pace well and continue recovering from my back injury. I ran this race last year, and did terribly, so really wanted to pace well. It was raining lightly for the first 3-4 miles, but if finally let up and was just humid. Fortunately, unlike last year, it was only ~61 degrees. I tried to take it easy for the first half or so, knowing there were still some big hills to come. I basically paced by heart rate, trying to keep it around 160. Ultimately, I did a really good job at that. As I got close to 10 miles, I realized I had some strength to spare, so started to speed up. I thought I had an outside chance at under 1:40:00 (didn't happen), so kept that in my mind as well. I saw B, LJ, and Dexter at mile 10ish, then twice more in the neighborhood. LJ had made me a sign (well, she's 6 months so Mommy probably helped), and was learning to cowbell. I finished as strong as I could, considering there were still some big hills at the end.

Mile splits: Mile / Pace / Avg HR / Elevation change (ft)

1 / 7:22 / 146 / -8
2 / 7:47 / 156 / +24
3 / 7:58 / 161 / +37
4 / 7:47 / 157 / -60
5 / 8:05 / 160 / +57
6 / 7:59 / 163 / +53
7 / 7:47 / 161 / -4
8 / 7:32 / 162 / -26
9 / 7:47 / 159 / +2
10 / 7:28 / 163 / -54
11 / 7:24 / 166 / -56
12 / 7:45 / 167 / +14
13 / 7:51 / 171 / +42
13.19 / 7:02 / 174 / -3

Nada

Hung around the finish chute for a while. I grabbed some Dunkin Donut holes for noms. I do wish there had been a plate or napkin or something to put them on. Also, my hat was dripping sweat into the pile of holes while I was picking mine. Sorry about that, folks. I met up with B, LJ and the crazy Dexter Dog near the finish. We took Dex to see Dozer the dog who got so much publicity for banditing the course last year. They both wanted to play, it was cute. I also saw a co-worker / neighbor who had come out with her daugher to cheer me on, which was nice. B and I chatted with them for a while, along with another co-worker that raced, then headed back home as I was freezing. It's about a half mile walk from the finish.


Injuring my back, primarily. It's still bothering me some, but I've been really trying to rehab it as best I can. Racing a 5k on Friday didn't help. I was really sore for the first ~2 miles, but then didn't really notice it much after that. Alough when I got to the end and wanted to kick into that "extra gear" it was largely gone.


This is definitely a good, well-organized race. It's a fun environment, nice and small, and in a good community (mine). The crowd support was a bit smaller this year compared to last, mainly due to the wether I think. The medals are cool, and the shirts are OK. They are UA, but for some reason the neck is cut really small. I had to strech the hole just to get my head in (while B laughed at me). Oh well. The post race food was plentiful and good, and the band sounded pretty good as well.