The half and full marathons started together, so I seeded myself just in front of the 4 hr pace group with my goal at 2 hours, expecting to finish around 2:02-2:05. With about 14,000 runners, it took over four minutes to get to the start line. With about 14,000 runners, it was pretty easy to not push the pace the first few miles!

The first three miles is a gentle climb of about 200 feet. With all the runners around me, I didn't even notice the incline until I got to the end of it and felt the relief of running on flat ground again.

Pit stop around mile 3.5 to pee in the woods and got passed by the 4 hr may pace group while I was taking care of business. Passed the pack surrounding the pace group sign in the next half mile and never saw them again.

Around mile 7 I was about five minutes ahead of pace for a 2 hour finish and was excited because I was still comfortable and relaxed. Started having some ITB pain at this point though. Never got too bad but was aware of it for the rest of the race.

After mile 7 there are a few uphills and they started setting me back toward a 2 hour finish bit by bit but I kept my eye on the pace to make sure I stayed on pace for sub 2.

At mile 11 I came up on our cheering crew of some of my cousins, their kids, my bro and his gf. My brother jumped in and ran two miles with me which was nice. I just kept on at my pace and let him fall in with me. There are a about 7 hills in the last 5 miles and I power walked up all of them even when my bro was yapping at me to keep running. Dood, I'm going at the best pace I can keep up here!

There were 1000/800/600/400/200/100 yard to the finish signs which was a nice touch. Great crowd around the capital and down the block to the finish line. A bit like IMWI, only not nearly as exciting... Gave it all I had the last two blocks and felt great to finish under 2!

Stretched out at the finish and one of my cousins came in a couple minutes later. It was her first sub 2 half mary so it was fun to celebrate with her.

Good food at the finish--hot chicken noodle soup, fruit, chips, cookies.

Wore swim trunks, long sleeve tech t with tri donkai tri top over it. Was perfect for the temps.

Nutrition:
Hammer Gel at 40 and 1:20
Salt Stick caps at 30, 60, and 90
Water and/or Power Aid at all of the aid stations except the first and last. There were aid stations every 1.25 miles or so, great to have so many of them! The other halfs I've done only had a couple aid stations so this was great.

Train more! My long run going in was 8 miles the week before the race. Didn't do any real hill training. But, for this early in the season, I'm happy with where my run fitness is.

Walk and eat.


Lack of training, particularly on hills.


Great weekend with my cousins, fun race, great weather. Fantastic!