Charleston Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Had no problems lining up somewhat near the front. Started well and 6:38 pace felt ok. First three miles the wind was generally behind us but my legs felt heavy. Turned onto King street and that began the 10 miles into a head wind. Pace slowed a little bit but I could feel I was working harder. Still kept under my goal pace pretty easily. Around mile 8 or so, the miles into the wind was starting to take its tool on runners as i started passing quite a bit of people. Somewhere around mile 7 I realized my garmin was measuring .1 long. I knew I had 30-40 seconds in the bank but was unsure how much that .1 would take out of that. Struggled doing the math so I just forgot about and would figure it out at the end.

The wind really got annoying at mile 9 or so. Straight into for an hour. Miles were clicking off nicely at 6:46 - 6:49 so I was still on pace through 12. Mile 12 we wound around a park but there was a portion that was unpaved and I felt like I was running in quicksand. Kinda worried at that point as I had no idea how long this unpaved section lasted. Luckily it was probably only 1/3 mile. That was my slowest mile.

Started to see the people lining the finish and looked down at my watch and was showing 1:28 so I knew I had no problem coming in under 1:30. Official time was 1:29:16.



Prescribed speed work on Wednesday was too late in the week. Legs felt heavy the entire race. Might want a deep tissue massage before going for a big PR.

Ran to find my checked clothes as it was quite chilly standing around sweaty and in the wind. Grabbed a beer and waited for my wife to finish. Couple of beers later, decided to check official results. Surprised the heck out of me when I saw 4th in AG (they award out to 5th). WooHoo! Very nice AG award pint glass. Headed back to Charleston on the shuttle after the half awards.


Lost quite a bit of speed due to 7 months on Ironman training so post IMFL, dedicated my training to getting the speed back and breaking the 1:30 mark. The 10 week program (Ryan Hall Nissan Half Marathon Plan) was quite hard with 2-3 speed/hill/tempo runs a week. Harder than I have ever worked. Had a major setback with the flu between xmas and new years followed by bronchitis the week after the flu followed by one healthy week before the race. That definitely cost me time. The other major factor was the 10 miles into a headwind. That sucks but out of my control. Take away the flu/bronchitis and the wind and would have expected to run about a minute faster. No skin off my back as all I wanted to do was break 1:30 so I can continue on my quest to BQ in May.


Really enjoyed this race. Had nothing but good things to say other than they needed more bathrooms at the start (but what race doesn't). Hot shrimp at grits at the finish. Free beer. Easy shuttles back. 5 deep for AG awards. On time. Lots of volunteers. Scenic course (although little crowd support).