Saratoga Palio Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Saratoga Springs, New York
United States
The Melanie Foundation
60F / 16C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 26m 52s
Overall Rank = 20/1875
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 2/73
Pre-race routine:

Had a rough night of sleep, and woke up not feeling like myself. Had to fight a lack of appetite to eat my usual prerace pancake breakfast (VERY unusual). Got my stuff together and hoped I would start feeling better. Getting my packet and seeing some teammates definitely perked me up, and I wasn't expecting any issues with my race performance.
Event warmup:

Ran a nice easy mile with Steve and Joe. Did a couple strides at the end and some light stretching.
Run
  • 1h 26m 52s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 06m 38s  min/mile
Comments:

Awesome run! My plan was to start out with 6:45 miles and go from there. I thought the pace might be a bit aggressive, but even with a little slippage I figured I could get under 1:30 with this plan. Turned out it was actually a conservative plan, as after 2 miles of 6:45 on the dot I was feeling very good and not breathing too hard. I picked it up to about 6:40 for a bit, then eventually down to 6:35. Now I was working, but it was manageable. Running negative splits allowed me to pick off some racers one by one which made for some nice motivation as fatigue set in. With 3-4 miles remaining I picked up the pace one more time, and finished with 3 sub-6:30 miles.
What would you do differently?:

I have very little experience with straight up running races, but I think this went extremely well. Very excited about my result!
Post race
Warm down:

Did 2 very slow cool down miles with Steve and Joe (had to hit 16 for my marathon training plan!) Found some space in the grass to do a thorough stretch routine.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not much.

Event comments:

Very fun race, and very happy with how I did.




Last updated: 2015-09-20 12:00 AM
Running
01:26:52 | 13.1 miles | 06m 38s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/73
Overall: 20/1875
Performance: Good
Course: Twisty course mostly through Saratoga State Park, and very fast. Only a few small hills in the 7-8 mile area.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5