The conditions were terrible -- 25-35 mph winds (with higher gusts) directly in our face for the first 6.55 miles. It was 39 degrees and they held the race for 20 minutes, waiting for shuttle parking. Try running with blocks of ice for feet and hands for the first two miles!

The first mile was crowded, and as usual people didn't line up with their correct pace groups. I had to run around walkers immediately (that burns me up!), plus slower runners. The road is two lanes, so there isn't a lot of room to manuever, which made the first mile slow (that and those blocks of ice I called feet!). But after a bit the crowd stretched out and I was able to run my own pace for most of the race. My HR was unusually low for a race, though. Someone told me that may have been because of the cold weather.

Battling the wind wasn't fun. You'd be running along, then suddenly you'd get a gust and feel like you were being pushed backward. I just kept telling myself that I only had to worry about the wind for the first half, and it should be clear sailing on the second half. Unfortunately I still had to run the second half (not sail), and for the next several miles I was just able to maintain the pace I had established on the way out.

After dragging through mile 10, it dawned on me that I only had 5K to go! I conserved a little energy during mile 11, but started to gradually pick it up. Mile 13 was good, and my HR finally started to go up too. So I did the last 3.1 miles (or 3.16 according to my GPS) in 27:09 -- a respectable time for me at the end of a half marathon.




Overall I'm pleased with my performance. I probably conserved too much energy during the first half but I was worried about the wind. My pace was pretty steady for most of the race, and I probably could have kicked it in earlier than I did. But I'm still very happy with the results! I took off about 4 1/2 minutes from last year.

Walked around, looking for my "peeps". They had my warm clothes, and I couldn't find them for about 15 minutes! So warm down became freeze up very quickly (temperature hadn't gone up a degree over those two hours). I threw on my warm clothes and we got out of there quickly.


Definitely the conditions. I was physically trained, although I had some mental games going on that were playing with me. But this was my first half in a year, and I hope it has helped me to prepare for the HIM in May.


The race sold out months ago. I hope they don't take that as license to increase the number of runners. That would be a disaster! There isn't enough room to handle any more runners on those narrow roads.