Applefest Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Was aiming for 1:30, and at the midpoint of the race I was at 44:47, so right on pace. However, it was getting hotter, more humid, and the larger hills started soon thereafter.

My avg. pace went from under 7:00 to around 7:30 pretty quickly, and I knew that 1:30 was not going to happen.

I kept going even though I was slowing and tried to bring my pace down on the flats or downhills whenever I could. I ended up passing 4-5 people in the last several miles and was also passed by a few.

The heat was definitely getting to most people. My time this year, which was 32nd, would have been good for 69th last year - I'd say that can be attributed to the excess heat.

I also got some pretty bad blisters on the toes of both feet. I wore my Zoot tri shoes, and probably shouldn't have done that. The shoes are good up to 10K, but the forefoot isn't that tight, and on longer runs my feet move around and get blisters. That didn't help, as every step was painful.

I still PR'd by two minutes - only room for improvement.

I got a distance of 13.24 on my garmin at a 7:17 pace.

Over the past month I only ran about 50 miles. My IT band was giving me some issues at the start of the month, so I took eight days off. I took it easy and upped my biking to try to keep up my fitness. I think it helped with overall fitness, but biking can't be substituted for running.

I need more run volume in order to get under 1:30 - and cooler temps would also help!

Got a lot of water and walked around waiting for my wife to finish. She came in just under the two hour mark, which is what she was shooting for.


High temp and humidity led to much slower times for all runners. I also didn't have as many miles in training as I needed. That'll change over the winter, as I focus on building up my mileage.


A fun race overall. I didn't get my goal time, but I bet that was the case with most of the runners.

Got a huge apple pie for 2nd in my age group, which was cool.

I'd like to do this race again next year with proper training and with cooler temps on race day.