Shamrock'n Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

I am VERY happy with my race today. This was y second half, and a month after my first. The first one was the day after a century ride, so I knew I would set a PR here. The crappy thing was the whole week before I suffered through a major head cold that I'd caught from my kids. I ran 3.5 miles on thursday, and 4, on friday...but that was it for the week. I knew my legs would be well rested at least.

Me, my wife and my dad all started towards the back of the wave, along with my brother and a few of his buddies who were banditing this race. (My brother ran a 1:22 here last year). I started off at a good clip, just trying to get through the crowd. Things opened up around mile 2, and then the group I was with ran into a Light Rail train crossing and came to stop for a second, which of coursed caused another traffic jam. Pretty soon we were around the capitol building and I had settled into a 7:58 pace that I felt comfortable with. From there till mile 5 I was just cruising and enjoying the morning. At mile 5, my brother and his buddies caught up to me, and they stuck with me the rest of the way. My pace had crept down to the 7:50 range, but I felt great. I felt like I had a high turnover, my form was rock solid and I was breathing easy. At about the 11 mile mark I started to kick it into gear. I only took one cup of water at mile 11...and I just used that to wash down the 1 gu I took (that I didn't even really need) but I had plenty of energy. Crossed the Capitol Bridge with about 3/4 of a mile to go and I found another gear. We had to circle all the way around the stadium, down a dirt road, and then turn onto the warning track. I had a great kick at the end, and my last mile was a 7:04.

Nothing. It was a great race and a great performance for me. I've only been running since last may, and I never ever thought I could be a sub 8 min mile runner in a half marathon.

Waited in the stands for my wife and dad to finish.


Even though it's a 12 hour round trip drive for us, I will be back to do this race. It's awesome.