Hyannis Half Marathon - Run

Calling this a below average run not entirely fair to myself. Below average more for my decision making than how I ran. Came into this race with my main goal to arrive and leave healthy / inury free. My previous 2 attempts at long running races (a marathon in 1994 and Hyannis 1/2 in 2003) both resulted in finishing with tibial stress fractures. Had a goal of sub 1:50 which was a realistic stretch before the weather. As I was leaving work Friday told a colleague that I just wanted to run a smart race and negative split.

Ran first mile with Mark, Glen and Rob. Joked about how Joanne was moving faster than us as we saw her often. After about 1 mile Mark was quickly gone but the three of us stayed together until approximately mile 5-6. These were deceptively comfortable miles. Checked Garmin at mile 4, saw the 8:17 that we had all run and Rob and I decided we needed to back off the pace. I felt awesome these first 6 miles. Too bad I wasn't running the 10k. After this point I started on my path to falling apart. Was able to keep Rob and Glen in sight until about 7.5-8 miles, hoped I would get a second wind and catch them but eventually just lost them. They both were running really strong and I suspect Glen was holding back staying with us. The remaing 5 or so miles were a struggle. Looked at my Garmin and was seeing confirmation of what I felt; my pace slowing and HR venture into areas I don't normally go (numbers above are averages, there were some pretty high isolated HRs). Threw in some short 10-15 sec walk breaks to try to bring HR down, drink, take gel, whatever. The rest of my race would be ~0.5 miles or so run, short walk, repeat. Interesting to see my pace over these miles. When I was running I was running at a sub 9:00 pace. While not the way I wanted to run this race clearly adding the walking let me run faster than if I had tried to just plug on. Saw my family (wife and kids) five times in the last 4 miles which helped bring me home.

With the cold temps and wind keeping cool not too much of an issue. Was actually really warm at points (when not running directly into wind) and needed to unzip GoreTex windbreaker and 1 of the insulating layers. Probably could've gone with only the Duofold and GoreTex and been perfect. Realized post run that I still had 8 oz of fluid remaining. Only consumed 16 oz (12 oz of Acclerade, 4 oz of water with my 2 Carb-booms) the entire run despite sweating pretty heavily. As the temps were cool didn't perceive this during the run but post run shirts were wet/heavy and I realized how much fluid I was down.

Came out injury free. The expected soreness but no stress fracture type pain :). A few blisters on my big toe and first toe but can live with this. Going back to my HIM training it's good knowing I can do the 13.1 miles under tough conditions and I still have 14 more weeks until Eagleman.

How cool to see Joanne before the race and out on the course with a Go BT sign. It's a crazy cold day and here's this woman I've never met (until today) with my name on a sign. Too Cool! Other than my family who came out to cheer (even though I told them to stay away as it was too cold) Joanne has to be the best cheerleader!

Go out easier and repeat over and over "Start slow and negative split, start slow and negative split". I have no business throwing down 8:17 and 8:24 paces at 4 and 5 miles of a half-mary. Only set me up for a struggle the last 4-5 miles. I had this plan going in and didn't follow it. This is twice now that I've done this so there's no excuse for going out too hard in another race.

Saw my wife, Joanne, Rob, Glen cheering at the finish which helped me come home strong.

Exchanged congrats with the gang, goup photo and then got out of the cold and into warm building / warm and dry clothes before heading out to cheer for Mark. Joanne and Glen drove out onto the course to find Mark, I ventured about 3/4 mile or so down the road and Rob stayed at the finish. Did some stretching while on the side of the road waiting for Mark. Was great to see Mark go by looking strong in the last mile of his marathon.

Was awesome meeting new BT friends and getting together again with the CT guys.


Going out too hard, wind.


Good organization and volunteer support given how darn cold it was today. Given them a lot of respect and thanks. I carried my own fluids (not that I drank them enough) but heard many complaints around the location of the drink stations. Too far spaced in sections causing many to delay gels until water available. Mile markers not easy to see. If I didn't have my Garmin set up to recorde splits every mile I would've missed a bunch.

Very cool having JoAnne cheering us on. Great to meet up with fellow BTers and for Mark's finishing his first marathon.