Quantico Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

I had not done any half marathon in many years. I was just planning on racing this half marathon as a training race for the Marine's Corp Marathon that I will run for the very first time (never done any marathon).

My goal was to run at 7:30 pace (30 seconds slower than the Marathon pace I have in mind).

I started pretty strong averaging 6:45 pace for the first 5 miles.
Then I decided to take it easy knowing there was a hill coming at mile 7 and 8.
Man, the hill happened to be much bigger and longer than expected. My pace was averaging 7:40 uphill, then I maintained a decent pace down hill around 7:10.
But the last 3 miles were difficult. I had some hard time at mile 11 in the last uphill of the race. 2 of the marines that I had passed the previous mile caught up with me. And not only did they pass me, but they did that while maintaining a conversation as if they were just jogging. Hilarious...
I just finished my last 2 miles as I could averaging 7:20 pace.

I finished the last part of the race giving everything I had with a 300m sprint. But I regret not having checked the race elevation before. If I had been a little more conservative, at the beginning, I would have kept a better pace at the end.

Anyway, I'm still happy as I ran 20seconds faster by mile than I had planned.


Pace myself better at the begining
Study race elevation

I think I am ready to do my first marathon in 3:30.
Let's see how it goes on Oct 28.