Platte River Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Goal was to finish under 2 hours. This seemed like a tall order between the weather forecast (rain, snow and wind) and the fact I was sick the first week of April. I self seeded in the 2nd wave ~1/3 of the way back, and subsequently spent the first ~1.5 miles weaving through traffic up to the path and turn to the river, into the tunnel-funnel.
Once on the river path, I fell into a strategy of finding someone up front to pace off, and try to reel them in. When gaps between runner clusters opened, I worked to cross the gap on flat or decline sections of the path, then find another pacer to work. This worked pretty well up through mile 10, which is when my quads started to sing and groan and otherwise ache. From that point I was just trying to hang with the people I'd been hanging steady with since the early part of the race. The last 5k was lots of internal coaching and affirmation and otherwise talking myself out of breaking stride, especially going up and over the viaduct at mile 12+.
Along with the last minute wardrobe adjustments, I decided not to carry a bottle since I hadn't yet trained with one this year and the aid stations were every ~2 miles. I alternated water and water/powerade(blue-blech flavor, not sure what its supposed to be). I don't think this will work for me on a longer event, or a warm one.

Seed myself a bit more assertively.
More long training runs.
Go with my own hydration.
core work.

Across the finish line and into the cattle chute, got the chip clipped, the medal draped, the obligatory icy water bottle - is it necessary to ice water when the temp is in the high 30's?
From there over to bag pickup, I was really glad to have a jacket and warm hat since the wind kicked up and the temp had gone down since 9am. Through the gratis tents (more water, banana, Honeymilk!), then into the athlete's meal line for a bratwurst and a cookie. There was a band in the picnic & beer area, but they were only serving Michelob Ultra (really?) and I was getting cold. Onto the train back to Littleton, nice to finally sit for a bit.


Start line seeding.
Number of long training runs.
Conspicuous lack of core work.


This is a great and well supported race, lots of volunteers, and a well-provisioned post-race. Too bad they don't have a CO brewery in the sponsor fold.