Shamrock Sportsfest 1/2 Marathon - Run

Good run for me...a PR by a lot! I basically had a plan and stuck with it. I could have pushed it harder but I wasn't there to put in a max effort run. My goal was 6:30/mile average and I thought for sure I'd be behind after the first mile because of all the slow traffic I had to deal with from being late to the start but I ended up clocking a 6:27..my HRM data shows that I peaked up around 168 in that first mile so it's obvious I was pushing to get back on track. After that I was able to settle into my groove, run right around 6:30/mile and my HR came down to the low 160's where I knew it should be. The first 4-5 miles had a decent head-wind and since I was with slower people I couldn't really latch on and draft anyone so I had to blaze my own way...but still managed to run on pace. From the ~7 mile markon we had a nice tail-wind most of the way. I was steadily passing people up to about the 9 mile mark. That's where I was just about caught up with the folks I should have started with because I was barely reeling anyone else in. I probably only passed 6-10 people over the last 4 miles...but we were pretty strung out by that point too. Oddly, I felt much more at ease running from behind. I held basically the same effort level the entire race (aside frm the final mile) but it felt like I was working a bit harder once I wasn't passing people a lot. Maybe it was just a little fatigue.

So I know my goal was to run a conservative 6:30/mile average and I was slightly ahead of that with a mile left but it's just not in me to put it on cruise control and coast to the finish. So I opened it up and let the legs give what they had left. I was probably at 95% effort level over the last 1.1 miles and turned in a 5:59 split for mile 13.

Nothing. Everything was planned out and I stuck with it...aside from the fast last mile or so :)

Walked back to my car to grab my wind pants and vest, mix up a bottle of Endurox and then have a little cool-down jog. I wasn't timing it but I went 2.7 miles and was just kind of shuffling along...probably 9-10min/mile. I waited for Katie just after the 12 mile marker and jogged in to the finish with her about 45min after my cool-down. I did some good stretching while I waited for her.


Run faster! Seriously...I wasn't out there to run the fastest 1/2 I could. I didn't taper, had a tough track workout on Friday, and ran a 7+ mile "warm-up". But that was all how I planned it. All I wanted to do was run the 1/2 a slightly faster than my goal pace for Boston so I decided to shoot for 6:30/mile average. I was able to click off comfortable splits right around there the whole race. I could have run faster if I wanted to and I could have been faster still if I did a normal 15min warm-up.


Jerry and Amy put on a great race! Everyone got nice technical shirts and running hats plus a nice finisher medal. There was lots of food and beer at the finish party and they had a huge tent set up on the beach. The temp was perfect for racing but too cold for post-race festivities...but the tent covered that.