Callaway Gardens Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

The purpose of this race was to assess where I stand in my training for the March 4 Sarasota Marathon. I hope to qualify for Boston and I used this race to calculate my marathon potential. The online calculators and publications that I have read tell me that in order to run a 3:20 marathon (my BQ time) than I should be able to run a 1:35-1:36 half marathon. I felt that I did not adequately taper for this half (in fact, I ran a hilly 15 miler 2 days before) so I figured that a 7:30 pace would get me a 1:38-1:39 half marathon time and it would give me a little more confidence that a BQ is possible in March.

I thought that a 7:30 pace was definitely attainable and, if I felt good, perhaps pick it up for the second half of the race. I met up with my friend Nick before the start of the race and a 7:30 pace sounded good to him as well. We started out quick but the first 2-3 miles were net downhill. Once I saw the first few splits I knew I had the potential to a) set a PR, and b) given the size of the race, place in my AG. Here are my splits:

7:07 / 7:17 / 7:36 / 7:12 / 7:07 / 7:40 / 7:41 / 7:23 / 7:27 / 6:41 / 7:03 / 7:18 / 7:56 (1.1 miles - 7:13 pace)

Miles 6-9 were net uphill and mile 10 was obviously pretty much all downhill so I felt like my effort was pretty consistent. I started to "feel it" somewhere during mile 11 but as you can see from the splits it did not slow me down.

After the first mile or so I was never passed by another runner yet I probably passed 10-12 folks. I saw a couple guys ahead of me at mile 12 and I was unsure if they were in my AG. I picked up my pace and managed to catch one guy. The other guy heard me coming at about the 13 mile marker and picked up his pace. I did not have the energy to catch him. I saw him inside and found out he was 33 - not even close. I must think I look a lot younger than I am because I am always concerned that these young guys are the same age as me.

I head into the circus tent and over to the results table. The little basket for your race card for 40-44 year olds is empty and for a moment I am shocked. I ask the lady if I am first and she says "sorry, I already removed 1st thru 3rd place". Oh well, this is the second race in the last 6 months where I finish one spot out of the hardware. It'll come, I just have to keep at it!

My time is a PR by almost 3 minutes and I now have renewed confidence that a BQ time in Sarasota is a possibility!

If I was truly racing this as a PR race or an "A" race than I would have executed the proper taper. Other than that, I believe I executed a pretty smart race.

Stretched quite a bit - especially the Achilles. Bought a really bad $2 cup of coffee to warm up a little.


A proper taper.


There were 3-4 spots that were poorly marked. Come to find out the fork in the road would often lead to the same place but you are not aware of that when you come to the fork. There was no post race activities and the food table was pretty bad - no bagels or coffee.