Val Nolasco Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Horn goes off and it takes me about 3 minutes to find any kind of space. They really need to do chip readings at the start so that so many slower folks don't feel they need to be up front to avoid being penalized at the back. Anyway...I don't care about the official results, so I just started my watch when I crossed the starting line.

As I dodge people, I know I'm going out a bit too fast, but I can't help it...make moves, or stay boxed in. I see that I went out about 30 seconds too fast on the first mile, so I just take it easy climbing up the first major hill in mile 2...and it works out perfect...right back on pace. The next 4 miles were largely uneventful. I was comfortable, but I didn't feel that extra kick that I was expecting from resting up this week. The pace I was holding was a few seconds per mile faster than I wanted, but I thought it was going to feel easier. It felt more like a mid week training run on tired legs.

Mile 7 I made a slight error in trying to draft off a couple of faster guys. We were going right into the wind...so it was worth it in a way...but it was the beginning of the end for me. I ran that mile at 7:56...way too fast at that point, and I knew I couldn't hold it together. I tried to give back some time in hopes of saving my race and ran 8:43 pace over the next 2 miles. When I hit the split button on my watch, it showed 8:01 and 9:25, but I have to assume the mile markers were off...no way I ran that big a gap. My next mile at 8:51 confirmed that...but that mile was way too hard effort wise with 3.1 to go and a huge hill coming up.

Once I hit that hill...my legs gave up. I was reduced to a shuffle like run and while my cardio was there...there was just too many miles built up in my legs over the past month for them to respond. I decided at this point that there was no point in pushing it physically...as this was more of a "test" run than anything else...and I got the info I needed from it already. So I just played the mental battle of sustaining something that looked like running even though my mind so badly wanted to walk.

Crossed the finish officially at 1:55:33, but my watch read 1:54:54. Still over 1 minute better than I ran it last year.



This was a good learning experience for me. I normally set reasonable race goals for myself...but I had no business going for 1:50 at this point in my training. My previous 4 weeks of run volume was 41, 39, 45, and 48 miles...which is high for me. In fact, October was my highest run volume month ever. Compared to last year...where I ran 50 less miles in those same 4 weeks leading up to this race. I vastly underestimated the rest/taper needed to run a half well.

Given the circumstances, I should have tried to pace 1:53. Even trying to pace 1:50, I still went out too fast as I was on pace for 1:48 after the first 8 miles.

So overall...no injuries, and nothing I can't easily correct in the future. A good learning experience in a race that really was just a test run for me. No shattered dreams or dissapointment.

Drank some water and gatorade. When I got home, I felt really sick for about 20 minutes. I though I was going to throw up. I layed down, and after about 10 minutes I felt better and had something to eat. Never had that feeling before...and for a few seconds my vision went blurry.


Lack of a proper taper...or simply trying to "race" a race that simply does not fit in my traning schedule.


Good race for the money. Aid stations were very well run.