Drake Relays On The Roads Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Went out way too fast. I hit 3 miles at about 19:30 -- the horrifying image of those clock numbers is my clearest memory of the whole race. Putting Iron Maiden as the first song in the iPod didn't help, but it was basically a rookie mistake. Physically, I paid for it -- miles 4 and 5 were awful, and I never really felt good the rest of the race. The upside was gaining some mental toughness by first dreading and then fighting through the remaining 10 miles. I took it easy on miles 6 and 7, which helped a bit, but I still don't have a good feel for what a given pace feels like. Investing in a $6 watch might help.

Around mile 7.5 I found a good pace partner, but then left him behind at the top of the Forest Ave. hill.

Really pushed it for the last 1.5 miles.

Still lots to learn, given that this was just my second race of any kind. Run a slower first mile. Get into a consistent pace right away, rather than varying wildly up through the 4th mile. Don't use the iPod until about halfway through the race, when I need the boost.

Training, training, training. The hip issue in the 2 weeks prior to the Charlottesville Half limited my miles. I wouldn't do things differently, since aggravating the hip would kill my summer tennis/ultimate season -- the ultimate tragedy. But there's no doubt it was a big limitation.

I don't think running the Charlottesville race the week before was a problem. I felt great coming into the race.


A good race. Improved 6:45 from Charlottesville. I was psyched to break the 8:00/mile pace, and I pushed harder than in Charlottesville, but my relative age group performance was actually slightly worse (62nd percentile here; 64th percentile there). I can do better.

Encouragement from the guys was huge. I saw Fornoff and Westy at least 3 separate times on the course, and the buzz from all the guys beforehand was contagious. Schaefer's 1:45 prediction, although basically arbitrary, was exactly the focal point I needed to push harder than I wanted to. A total blast overall.