Mayor's Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Anchorage, Alaska
United States
UAA Athletic Department & Municipality of Anchorage
65F / 18C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 37m 51s
Overall Rank = 48/1756
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 4/111
Pre-race routine:

The did not start until 9AM so I didn't have to get up until about 6:30. Ate toast for breakfast and left the house around 7:45. Parking was a little difficult and not clearly marked other than at the high school so we ended up parking in a nearby neighborhood.
Event warmup:

Not much of a warm up other than some strethcing.
Run
  • 1h 37m 51s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 07m 28s  min/mile
Comments:

Due to not specifically training for this race and the uncertainty of a travel race, I decided to start out using my previous PR time from last November as a guide. Overall this worked really well and I generally had no difficulty keeping a pace faster than that.

The first couple of miles were a little fast due to everyone starting out fast, especially since the 5-milers started out together with the half marathoners. Mile 2-6 were tough due to the hills and intense sun next to the airport. Starting around mile 6, the course switched over to the trail system that runs along the water. The miles went by quickly enough although I was a little conservative since I didn't really know what to expect. Eventually we left the trail and came into a neighborhood with a very steep climb up from the waterfront. After this climb it was just a flat run into the finish.

Since it was a small race, I found myself pacing off of other runners for longer periods of time than I normally do in a race.
What would you do differently?:

First, I would start out a little slower. Second I would have gone a bit faster on the middle miles on the trail. The hills and sun at the beginning were more difficult than expected so I was hesitant to push too hard until I was closer to the finish.
Post race
Warm down:

Cooled off in the post-race area and recovered pretty quickly.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Mostly not knowing the course.

Event comments:

For a small race, this one was relatively well organized. Since so many of the participants are from out of state, a bit more information for out of towners would have been nice (ie better parking information).

My only complaint was that a couple of the mile markers along the trail were way off with my Garmin showing very short miles. All of the other miles seemed to be very consistent.




Last updated: 2012-06-29 12:00 AM
Running
01:37:51 | 13.1 miles | 07m 28s  min/mile
Age Group: 4/111
Overall: 48/1756
Performance: Good
Course: The first half was rolling hills along the airport perimeter and the second half was mostly flat along the waterfront trail.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4