Rock The Parkway Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Got to the start just before the gun went off, slid in through the corral barricade right between the 1:30 and 1:35 pace groups. Soon after the start I started to drift to the right as there was no way I was going to try and stay with the 1:35 runners. About a third of a mile in I saw Pete and Shannon in their bright bright yellow team banana hammocks jerseys so I swung over to say hello to Pete and wish him good luck. I told him "I'm gonna back off now" and he yells "come on Reece!". He knows better than that. He ran 1:34, Shannon 1:32, winner friggin' 1:05!!!

My plan was to drift back until the 1:40 pace group came upon me and try to stay with them, or at least keep them in sight. I checked my watch at mile 1, 7:43 "O.K." easy see if you can stay here for a while. We're going slightly uphill so I just tried and stay steady, mile 2 at 8:01 which I was fine with. Mile 3 at 7:51 still feeling OK, we're still going slightly uphill. I think miles 2 and 3 had a combined gain of around 150 feet.

This guy came up along side of me and said "you're Reece aren't you?" and I said yes and "you are....?". He told me his name I don't remember it but he said he participated in a webcast I did the week before so he must have recognized my face from my professional profile picture. Said he worked for Schneider Electric in town, we chit-chatted for about a third of a mile then I slowed for a water station, he started to peel away after that. I saw him later on, he got an AG award, not sure what AG but it was older than my group, good for him!

I pretty much stayed at around 7:30 pace all the way up until the last hill where I slowed to 7:42 pace that mile. I started to feel some leg fatigue at around mile 8. But the good news was there was only 4 miles to go. So I just focused on staying steady and not trying to be too aggressive until the last mile. They had 3 live bands on the course, one at around mile 2/11 and one at the turnaround not the mention the band at the starting area.

Much to my surprise the 1:40 pace group did not catch up to me. Since I had managed a 7:30 pace since mile 3 I figured I was right on top of a PR pace which I had not planned on at all. But with 1.1 miles to go I saw 1:31:xx on my watch so knew if I could run low 7 I'd have a PR! So I picked up the pace and stayed strong, I could have ran a little fast but all I was thinking was just beat my previous best, there's no podium here and there's training for the big race ahead.

I finished strong, ran mile 13 in 7:11, very happy with the results.

Nothing, I executed this race to the best of my current ability.

Got my finishers medal, drank some water, walked over to the results tent, chit-chatted with Pete, Shannon and Ryan who all crushed it, Ryan ran a 1:29!!! a PR for him.

A shout out to Ryan Falkenrath, a local coach here in Johnson County for "using" me for his Triathlon coaching certification as I was able to complete a metabolic test to determine my training zones along with some other valuable information. Knowing my zones has had a very positive impact on my running, as shown in these results.

Amy came through the finish at 1:55 which was great considering how much running she did not do this year. She executed her plan, did not need the med. tent as she jokingly referred to leading up to this race ;) We then went and ate some big ol' omelettes and each toasted our day with bloody mary's and screwdrivers....and coffee of course :)


A great event, I think the numbers speak for themselves, over 4,200 competitors for this half marathon.