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 Run
Comments: The gun went off and Jacob and I took off like a flash. My goal was to run the first 10 miles at race pace and the last 5K pretty much all out. Started heading up hill and turned through downtown. First mile - 6:28. Shit! That's way faster than what I can maintain, but I wanted to get my HR up and around 160 as quick as possible. Climbing up to mile 2 our pace evened out a bit and our split was 6:55. Still a tad fast but much more managable. Had a nice downhill before mile 3 (6:34) and I was well ahead of my 5K PR. This is where I was amazed at just how small the race felt. It was my 3rd time running the half here and I know there are around 5,000 people. But we were so far into the front pack that it felt like 300 people at the most. Took my first gel at the aid station before mile 4 (7:20) and finally started to get comfortable. I was wearing a beanie, gloves, arm warmers, a singlet and running shorts and it felt great. The arm warmers kept the wind from hurting and my core temp kept the rest of me warm. It was such a great day to run. Hit the first set of race photographers after mile 5 (7:16) so Jacob and I pulled our shirts over our heads to flash the camera guys. They seemed to get a kick out of it. Mile 6 (7:20) and we're feeling great. Saw John on a borrowed mountain bike. That was a nice surprise, even if he didn't have any beers for us. Mile 7 (7:11) was the end of the hills. Now we only had 3 miles to go until we had to really start running. Mile 8 (7:16) was the turn around and my total time was only about 30 seconds off my Turkey Trot finish time. Damn were we moving quick. And this felt easy now. We were cracking jokes left and right and it felt like a nice easy jog. Emerged from all the neighborhoods at mile 9 (7:08) and I started to think about that last 5K. This was gonna hurt. Had a nice long straight road and I could see the marker in the distance. We had been getting passed on a regular basis, just a few people every couple of minutes but still regularly. Now we were starting to catch back up to some familiar faces. Mile 10 (7:11) and the easy part was over. We lengthed our strides and it was obvious that we had picked things up quite a bit. Almost all of mile 11 (6:46) was downhill so my HR didn't jump much, but I could feel the effort. Turning back through downtown we caught some nasty wind. Came back onto the Freedom Run course and hit mile 12 (6:26). Holy shit! Our fastest mile was next to last! Wound around and hit the last aid station. I had to burp a few times and my stomach wasn't thrilled to be pushed this hard. With about a half mile to go I felt a sudden cringe and nearly puked right there. Had to slow a step but kept it all together and never broke stride. I could hear the finish line and couldn't wait for it to be over. We weren't going to break 1:30 but we weren't far off either. Saw the line and we pulled our shirts over our heads again as we crossed the line and could finally stop. Last 1.1 miles - 8:00. I'll add the official race photos when they're up. Hopefullly Friday. What would you do differently?: Push hard enough to puke in the last 5K. I wanted 21 minutes after mile 10 and missed it by 12 seconds. A little more in the last mile and I could have beat my 5K PR. This was technically a PR by 19:52, but I haven't run a stand alone half mary in 22 months. Also faster than my HIM run PR 6 weeks ago by 4:30.  Post race
Warm down: Got my mylar blanket and finisher medal. Took a finish photo with Jacob then headed to the Jeep to weigh in and get some warm clothes. Headed back to the finish and looked for Kenny. Hung out with some people who were at Sunmart the day before until we saw Steve come in... way sooner than we expected. Started to find more and mroe BTers inside the AAC and went down to the floor to get some food. They were out of cups for the beer, bowls for the soup and all the pasta was gone. Needless to say we headed straight to Freebirds for some well earned burritos. What limited your ability to perform faster: My mind. I could have pushed that little bit more and I should have. Event comments: Great race, shitty post-race. I'll be back. Profile Album Last updated: 2007-11-11 12:00 AM
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United States
43F / 6C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 144/5209
Age Group = M 20-24
Age Group Rank = 13/122
Bill and I hopped in his Jeep after Sunmart and started our drive back to the Metroplex. Before we even got out of the Huntsville State Park we were pulled over by a state trooper. Thankfully he let us off with a warning and we were on the highway a few minutes later.
Couldn't have been more than 20 minutes after that and we were on the shoulder with a flat tire. No big deal. Bill gets out the spare while I take off the flat and we'll be back on the road in no time. What we didn't realize is that we weren't on a flat surface.
As I'm lifting the spare onto the axle the Jeep rolls forward off the jack and crashes to the ground. The edge of the fender catches the spare tire and the whole thing lands on my left foot.
FUCK! I spent all day jockstrapping at an ultra and on the drive home a Jeep falls on my foot and traps me on the side of the freeway the night before my race?!? Karma owes me one.
I do my best to stay calm. Bill resets the jack and lifts the Jeep up to free my foot. It hurts a bit but nothing is broken. We try to lift the Jeep again but from the axle rather than the frame. Jeep rolls forward again but this time bends the jack beyond use. Shit! Guess which two guys forgot to set the parking brake? Yeah.
We lucked out and were across the highway from a Home Depot so I ran over and bought a jack. Unfortunately it didn't fit. So after finding someone in the parking lot who would help, we got the axle off the ground, the new tire on, and still had all our toes and fingers.
The rest of the drive was blissfully uneventful.
Got up with 3 hours 'til the start, let the dogs outside and made myself a PB&J sandwich for the road. Skipped the huge line of traffic on 35 in favor of the next exit and was parked within a few minutes.
Picked up my packet and played the waiting game for the other BTers. Eventually Andy found me and I hung out him, Shannnon and Craig until Steve and Marcy got there as well as Jacob.
Headed back to the Jeep to strip down, get my pre-race weight and get my race clothes on. The weather forecasts had been up and down all week so I had no idea what I was going to wear. I just brought everything I had and picked out what I wanted about a half hour before the start.
Went back in to find everyone. Then headed outside to jog around the AAC as my warm up. Got through the start corral and found a nice spot about 5 feet behind the elite runners and waited for the gun.