The Cowtown - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Fort Worth, Texas
United States
The Cowtown
38F / 3C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 33m 48s
Overall Rank = 118/3250
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 26/255
Pre-race routine:

Drive down to Ft. Worth on friday with friends and Lisa. Checked into the hotel around 5:30 and walked over to the expo. Enjoyed the expo and then proceeded to the Mexican food dinner. Ate a good meal and headed back to the hotel. Set out the clothes for the next day and went to bed. Slept great. Woke up around 6:15 and got ready. Ate half a cliff bar and drank a little water. Left the hotel about 7:15 after meeting up with Gloria and Jen.
Event warmup:

Stretched a little in the hotel lobby and then jogged to the start line from the hotel with Eric and Ken. Fought our way into the front of the crowd of people and waited for the gun.
Run
  • 1h 33m 48s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 07m 10s  min/mile
Comments:

Took off with Eric and Ken faster then I've started a half marathon before. The downhill didn't help and at one point I noticed our paced had slipped under 6min/mile. I slowed up and figured I'd relax down the hill and catch them at the bottom. Worked perfectly, we hit the bottom, the wind hit them and I slid right back in with Eric and Ken. We hung together through mile 2 when Ken started to pull away a little. Saw Jeep Fleeb around mile 4, he told me to hang with him but wasn't sure I could hold the 6:45 pace he had going so we chatted briefly and I let him go ahead.

Eric pulled ahead on a hill around mile 6, he was obviously feeling good when we started up hills. I'd catch him on the way back down. One hill pushed him ahead for a couple miles but by Mile 10 the three of us evened out again. The miles were clicking by pretty fast and at mile 10 I was well on my way to a PR, we had held a 7 min pace and with 5k I was in a good position get well under 1:33. I picked up the pace a little cause I felt good, and then we started to head downhill. Running downhill is the one thing that still bothers the IT band and I had to use my quads to limit the pounding of going downhill.

The last two miles were long steady uphill and my quads were fried from the downhill section. Pushed through the last two miles and finished well under the 1:35 I set out to run and I was happy overall with the finish. Cross about a minute after Eric and 30 sec after Ken.
What would you do differently?:

Looking back a couple days later, I wonder a couple things:
1) If I hadn't been wearing a Garmin would I have pushed beyond the 7:10 pace we set to run initially. Two places I think I may have changed the race without it. 1 when I let Jeep Fleeb go and 2 toward the end of the race when my quads started getting tired.
2) On the flip side, did the Garmin help me maintain the pace during some middle miles when my body wanted to slow down?

In past races, I had decided the Garmin psyched me out, I haven't figured out pacing myself for a fast long race entirely although this race and a few other workouts have given me some confidence about how hard I can push for a long race.
Post race
Warm down:

Stretched out and walked around the finish area while we waited for Gloria. I was a little worried about some sharp pains in my IT band. they went away through the day though.

Event comments:

Plan on going back, gotta get 4 more medals to make my star...




Last updated: 2009-02-10 12:00 AM
Running
01:33:48 | 13.1 miles | 07m 10s  min/mile
Age Group: 26/255
Overall: 118/3250
Performance: Good
Course: Large Loop through Ft. Worth. Starts with a large down hill and has a couple good climbs including a long one the last couple miles.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4