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Comments: Was a little concerned about not warming up much but felt good going out with the pack. Settled into a good rhythm. Ended up running a lot of the race with a kid just out of college and we worked together pretty well to keep a decent pace going. Never did stop to pee but the urge eventually went away. With 5 miles left to go I was feeling great but wasn't going to go nuts. With 4 miles left to go I knew I had sub 1:20 in the bag and just kept pushing myself without getting too carried away. I was surprised the crowds in downtown Duluth were as big as they were for that early in the morning - figured people would wait for marathon runners. Great crowds down near the DECC. Finished strong - NEW PR for the half. What would you do differently?: Absolutely nothing. This was my 5th weekend of racing in a row without any taper whatsoever for any race. This was a B race, so my intent was not to run an all out race as if it were Grandmas Marathon. I think this is about as close as I have ever come to perfectly executing my race strategy. My goal was to grab on to the tail of the 6:00 min/mi tiger and hold on no matter how much he tried to scratch and pee on me. Mental discipline was my focus today, not going fast. Except for my usual quicker than desired first mile or so, the plan worked. This is a new PR for the half for me, but this is only the second time I've done a stand alone half. Very pleased for this time of the season - good confidence booster for the volume that lies ahead.  Post race
Warm down: Eat! Jumped in the car and drove home - too much work to do at home. What limited your ability to perform faster: Nothing. Stayed in control. Event comments: I miss doing Grandmas but would definitely do this race again, but then, its my favorite course. Last updated: 2007-04-02 12:00 AM
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United States
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 52/5027
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 5/255
Up at 2:30 to eat a banana and bottle of Ensure then back to bed. Up again at 3:45 to get ready to go the DECC to catch the race shuttle bus. Arrived at the start area very early about 5 AM - too early. The start area for the half marathon is very small and doesn't have nearly the room to spread out as Grandmas Marathon. Said a quick hello to Bryan (mndiver). I brought a large plastic bag with me and spread it out on the side of the road and put some clothes on top for cushion and just sat down and stretched. Most people came with no warmup clothes, just their race clothes, and stayed standing for 1.5 hours - what are they thinking??
Absolutely zero warmup, which is not what I wanted. There were tons of people coming toward the start corral from the buses and I didn't want to fight against traffic to go warmup. So, I got in one of the long lines to use the porta-john and tried to get my legs warmed up by running in place. Third trip to john was close to start time and after about 20 minutes of waiting to pee and coming within 4 people of getting the next one, I decided to bail and go to the start area so that I could get a decent spot. How long can I hold it?