Saratoga Palio Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Saratoga Springs, New York
United States
The Melanie Foundation
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 26m 13s
Overall Rank = 16/862
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 2/38
Pre-race routine:

Had pancakes for breakfast, then walked over to the med students' house that I was carpooling with.
Event warmup:

Easy mile with some pick ups shortly before starting.
Run
  • 1h 26m 13s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 06m 35s  min/mile
Comments:

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!!
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, negative splits are the way to go to PR!
Post race
Warm down:

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?)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Nothing, crushed it!

Event comments:

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!




Last updated: 2017-09-18 12:00 AM
Running
01:26:13 | 13.1 miles | 06m 35s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/38
Overall: 16/862
Performance: Good
Course: Twisty course mostly in the park, flat with a couple hills in the 7-8 mile range.
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? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5