The race started with a lap around the track. Some jerk shouted that it was just a warm-up lap before the actual start. So another jerk (me) stopped and ran back toward Mayde. It so happens that it was really the actual start of the race.

1k 6:19 12k 5:30
2k 5:17 13k 5:08
3k 5:12 14k 5:42
4k 5:12 15k 5:08
5k 4:59 16k 5:24
6k 4:59 17k 5:22
7k 5:30 18k 5:34
8k 4:52 19k 5:06
9k 4:56 20k 5:46
10k 5:30 21.1k 5:23
11k 5:07

After the 10k mark I started to push a bit. The 14k was slow, but the next one was fast in spite of the bridge. I kept an even effort after that. I passed a lot of people even though my pace wasn't much faster. I guess one gets the impression of going really fast as one passes people, but they (the other racers) are really just slowing down. In that part of the race, I guess you have to keep a cool head and focus on your own pace and not just run with the group you're in.

Train specifically for this race. I was training for a full mary, but ended up with a herniated disc, took a week off and went into a training limbo.

I'm still happy with this run. Though I would have liked to go under 1:50 (and was pretty sure I could), I managed to knock off 40 sec's from the only other time I ran a half marathon.

Nothing really.

According to a couple of running buddies who had GPS watches, the course was about 800 meters (half a mile) long for the full distance and 400 meters for us halfsters.

I was happy to run an even split (5:18min/km for the first 10k and 5:19 min/km) for the 11-21.1k portion. Completely different from the last time I ran a half (2003), when I ran a PB for my first 10k and then struggled the remainder of the way.


Mayde came in at 1:59:45, beating her goal by 15 seconds in her first stand-alone half marathon!

It was a fun day to be out running. I watched a guy run 60km on his 60th birthday to complete his 60th marathon. I watched an older gentleman enter the Guiness Book of World Records by completing his 302nd marathon in 93 different countries!