Narragansett Summer Running Festival Half Marathon - Run

This was a tough run. The temperature was just under 80 degrees at start time, and in the mid-80s at the finish. Not as hot as it had been, but definitely warmer than preferable. Overall, it was hillier than I anticipated, and I really didn't care for the finish. The half marathon was part of a trio of races going more or less simultaneously: 5K, 10K, and the half. The 5K and 10K were entirely on the campus, and the 5K was done by the time we got back to the campus. We did run the last couple of miles with the 10K runners, and the on-campus portion had a lot of turns, many of them sharp and not at all conducive to keeping up a pace.

I started out OK, with the first couple of miles slower than my overall target pace. However, in the middle few miles I went harder than I should have. The last couple of miles were the slowest, which is unusual for me. I'm usually able to keep a good pace and do negative splits throughout. It was still a PR, by a couple of minutes, but it could have been even better.

I think I neglected to properly account for the heat and humidity, and thought I could maintain a pace that I clearly couldn't. In the future, I'll just need to incorporate weather considerations into my race plan better than I did this time.

Stumbled around for bit, and then got stretched out. Had a banana and a bottle of water, followed by a cheeseburger and a couple of complimentary beers provided by the race sponsor.


My fitness is pretty good, I think. Even running a less-than-optimal race, I was able to improve my half time by a couple of minutes. The heat and humidity definitely conspired to slow my pace, but I made it worse with poor decision-making.


The pre-race logistics need to be improved. The physical distance between the parking area and the registration area made for a lot of unnecessary walking. Also, the course is just a bit twisty for comfort, especially on campus. Not sure that I would do this race again in the future.