Pacers Running Festival Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Had a good run - I was just doing this to "do" it, so no expectations, and no real goals, except hopefully stay under a 10:00/mile. I paced it really well too, until the last mile, when I slowed down a bit. But for the most part, I hit every mile marker around the "8", so 2-miles at 18:XX, 5-miles at 48:XX, even the monster hill! So I am very pleased with that aspect. The weather was nice and sunny and warm, but there was a breeze, so you never got too hot. The last 2 miles, it was actually a head-wind, which kinda sucked. There was one long climb around mile 8 that was pretty rough, but then it was a nice long downhill :) My right IT Band started to act up around mile 10, but not super-terrible. And I simply just got tired towards the end! So I took a short walk break at the water stop, but only for a minute or so, and then kept a nice quick cadence to keep my legs going. The last little stretch, I managed to pick it up, as usually happens at the end of the race - never an all-out sprint, but you know you're done, so your body gives that last little bit of energy so you're not struggling over the mat :)

Not a whole lot, really. Maybe not skipped my Wednesday run this week.

Walked around, got some cookies and water, said hi to Caroline, and saw Tony and Sam - chatted with them. Stretched a bit. Oh, and then went home, took a shower, and realized I'd left my nice North Face hoodie at the bag check truck, so a trip to Rosslyn and then a trip to Pacers in Clarendon to retrieve the hoodie :)


Mild IT Band pain, and the fact that it was just a training run, and I'd only run once this entire week! Oops!


We started a few minutes late, since half the field was in line for the port-a-potties. And the course was a little boring at times. But it wasn't totally flat, so there was enough to keep you interested. It's the first year for this particular race (used to be the Battle of the Boulevard 10K).
I have a lot of work to do before Marine Corps - I can definitely hit under 5 hours, just not sure where in the 4:XX:XX mark I will be quite yet. Unsure as to whether I can double my performance from today - we'll see :) I am very happy that we got finisher's medals, though - even though it's not for winning, I've never gotten a medal for anything in my life.