Sarasota Marathon Grouper Run - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Sarasota, Florida
United States
Sarasota Marathon
60F / 16C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 53m 54s
Overall Rank = 1269/1484
Age Group = M55-60
Age Group Rank = 39/45
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4:00AM, and had some coffee and yogurt. My 25 YO son Scott, who was doing the race too and stayed overnight. Got Scott up at 4:30AM. Left for the race about 5:00AM. The participant parking was about 1/2 mile away from the start. We got to the start with about 15 minutes to go. Scott went off to start with the 9:00 minute group and I hung back with the 13 minute crowd.
Event warmup:

Yeah, sure. My warmup consisted of walking from the parking lot to the start line.
Run
  • 2h 53m 54s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 13m 16s  min/mile
Comments:

My first half marathon ever. Did my Galloway run/walk thing. Most of the time I do 3:1 on my long training runs, but taking the recommendation from Gallway's book, cut back to 2:1 for the race. My main goal was just to finish, but knew I should be able to do around three hours if I could just maintain my training pace. Concentrated hard on controlling my pace for the first half of the race - the last thing I wanted to do was go out too fast. The bridge was a bit of a strain the first time over, but not too bad. My left nipple started to bleed at about 6 miles so made a quick pit stop at the medical tent af the half-way point for a bit more vaseline - didn't help much. Didn't hurt, but the blood on my shirt was a bit embarassing; being on Coumadin probably made it look a lot worse. I was actually surprised at how good I felt most of the way. It wasn't pre-planned, and don't know if it made any logical sense, but at the water stations I decided to drink water during the first half and Gatorade coming back. Didn't really feel too bad until about 2-1/2 miles to go when my hammys started to get tight. I knew I was comfortably ahead of my 3 hour target time, so walked an extra minute about mile 11/12. Last 1-1/2 miles started to hurt more, until the last 1/4 mile when you return to the museum groups with all the crowds cheering. Really cool when the call you name and hometown as you cross the line.
What would you do differently?:

Everything went pretty much as I expected. I had lost about 12 pounds in the past three months, which I think made a difference, so losing some more certainly wouldn't hurt. Probably could have gone a bit harder over the last two miles. Needed some more vaseline or band aids on my nipples.
Post race
Warm down:

Grabbed a water, got my chip pulled then had my picture taken with my son Scott, who had finished in 1:57. Walked around for a while; had a banana and some more water.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Other than my physique? Just started to do long distance training back in the fall, so more base would help. Loosing more weight certainly would help.

Event comments:

Well-organized race with tons of volunteers. This was the fourth Sarasota Marathon and I had served as a bike monitor for the first three - I made sure I thanked all the volunteers along the way. The temperature was okay, but very humid, so I was soaked my the time I finished, even with my dry-fit gear.




Last updated: 2009-02-15 12:00 AM
Running
02:53:54 | 13.1 miles | 13m 16s  min/mile
Age Group: 39/45
Overall: 1269/1484
Performance: Average
Mile Pace HR 1 12:52 122 2 13:29 134 3 13:11 136 4 13:20 133 5 14:07 134 6 14:03 137 7 9:56 128 8 14:05 136 9 13:24 144 10 13:15 138 11 13:23 134 12 14:04 144 13 13:42 136 Mile 7 was steep downhill from the top of the Ringling bay bridge. Did a negative split: went out 1/2 split was 1:30.45 and back in 1:23.11.
Course: Race started on the grounds of the Ringling art museum and wandered through some bayfront residential streets for the first three miles then along a gently rolling stretch of US41 toward downtown Sarasota. A hard right on Ringling Blvd then up and over the Ringling bridge over Sarasota Bay. The turnaround for the half was on the far side of the bridge; turned around back the same way.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
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