Star City Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

The plan was to see if I could maintain at least an 8:20 pace - not a PR, but considering how hard an 8:35 pace was at the MCM, it was the best I thought I could hope for. The first mile was 8:09. We backed off the pace for the 2nd mile (we thought) - mile 2 was 8:11. Mile 3 had a water stop which we walked through - 8:20. The effort was much easier than the first few miles of the MCM, so I stopped looking at my watch, and just tried to run by feel. I slowed a little on the hills around miles 6 and 7, picked up on the downhills, and just tried to maintain the pace on the flats. I thought I left Pam at mile 6, but she ended up staying right behind me and we ran together again in the later miles.

Mile 10 split was 1:22:35. I knew I'd have to pick up the pace to PR, and at that point I could tell that I hadn't fully recovered from the marathon, so I wasn't sure it was possible. Pam picked up the pace and surged ahead, so I just tried to keep her in my sights (I don't think she realized that we had 3 miles left). I caught her and passed her after the 11 mile marker, and by the time we got to 12, I realized that I could PR if I maintained an 8:45 pace. That thought gave me an extra boost, and I think I ran it right around 8 - ended with a PR of just over a minute!

It was more evidence that something was wrong on race day at the MCM. Not enough taper? Shivering for 2 hours in the cold? Who knows. All I know, is that an 8:10 pace in the first few miles were so much easier than the 8:50 and 8:35 in the race only 3 weeks ago.

Nothing.

Walked around, drank water, ate a little food (skipped the beer and wine since it was only 10 am and I had to drive back).


A marathon 3 weeks back, no real distance for over 5 weeks (because of marathon taper and recovery).


I love small, local races. Even so, it manages to attract quite a large number of super fast people. They had chip timing this year for the first time, so the results were posted within 30 mins of me finishing. The course was much better than previous years - I realized that I really can't run well on pancake-flat courses. The race is well organized, well marked, and well staffed.