Saratoga Palio Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

I can't believe I PR'd today!! I started out around 6:45/mi and was just going to see if I could hold that all the way through. After about 5 miles I was feeling good and decided to try to drop it a little. I didn't think I was as fit as I was 2 years ago when I ran 1:26:52 here, so I didn't want to go too crazy. The 6:35-6:40 pace was tough, but working pretty well. I got over the hills in the 2nd half really well too, and knew I just had to cruise it in for a sub-1:30 at this point (very different than last year!). I came to the mile 10 marker at EXACTLY 1:07:00. I said to the guy there, "think I can run a sub-20 from here?", and he shouted back "yeah! Go for it!", so I did. I dropped the hammer, hard. First mile was 6:18, faster than I needed, but it didn't feel too bad, so I kept pushing that pace. I was really surprised I was able to hold on to it to be honest. Steadily picking people off as I was blasting to the finish definitely helped the motivation. The last mile has a nice gradual downhill, and I was flying. At this point I was thinking about the PR. I hit that one at 6:03, and hammered down the finishing straight away. What a race!!

Nothing, negative splits are the way to go to PR!

Went straight to the massage tables (not as great as last year's amazing massage), ate some food, and eventually stretched a bit.

(afternoon bike ride counts as part of the warm-down, right?)


Nothing, crushed it!


I really love this race, the course is a real blast (as long as you run perfect tangents!), and you can't beat free food from Druthers and live music for the after party. Two minor issues: it never starts on time because the police always take an extra few minutes to get the roads closed. And there aren't many aid stations. I remembered from last year and brought my hand held bottle, so no problem for me, but still. But really minor issues for an otherwise awesome event! And I even won a $125 gift certificate in a "random" raffle (12th overall male for their 12th anniversary). Can't beat it!