Felt pretty good at the start,though I was a little nervous about how my right knee would hold up through the race. I've been battling IT band issues since the beginning of December; at times I've been pain free for as much as a 2 week stretch, while other weeks I had pain after as little as 1.5 miles of running. Physical therapy and hip/glute specific exercises have definitely been helping. I've also been doing a lot of cross training (swimming and biking). Although, the bottom line is that the longest run I'd done EVER, was 8.5 miles in November right before the ITB problems. Because I'd never run close to the 13.1 miles, my goal time was tough to plan. I decided I wanted to at least break 2 hours, shoot for 1:55, and push for 1:50 if I felt good halfway through.

Anyway, back to the race...the start was nice and slow in the 8:45/mi range which was a good warm up. The crowd was really packed in the first few miles, so I took these a little slower than I wanted to to avoid having to weave around too many people and waste energy. I started near the 3:40 marathon pace group and figured that I'd hang around them until 7-8 miles, or until they changed route, and assess how I felt about the pace then. I quickly lost them in the chaos of the 1st mile. The first half of the race I had trouble reading my Garmin in the dark, so my pace was a little choppier than usual.

Miles 1-3: 8:56, 8:40, 8:29

After a couple of miles I felt warmed up, the knee was feeling good and so I just tried to keep a comfortable pace going.

Miles 4-6: 8:23, 8:22, 8:20

Around 6.5 miles we left the wind-protected setting of the neighborhood and began the out and back loop along Tampa Bay. This section proved to be some of the toughest running I've ever experienced. I don't know how hard the wind was blowing, but I really felt like the effort I had to run to maintain an 8:30-45/mi pace was equal to about 1 min/mi faster...which makes sense when you see my last couple of mile splits! This section had a gentle curve to the road and I kept on wondering when we were going to turn around. It was very demoralizing to fight the wind, not to mention my knee starting to hurt a little. Finally after about 3-3.5 miles we got to the turn around. By this time, my quads were screaming at me to stop but I knew there were only a few more miles left, with a tailwind no less!

Miles 7-10: 8:28, 8:32, 8:35, 8:42

I was so relieved to reach the turnaround and feel a little wind at my back finally. I started to do some math in my head to see where I might finish. I decided I'd try and hit the gas all the way home to get as close to 1 hr 50 min as possible. The next few miles were very painful on my muscles and joints, but not really that taxing on my cardio system. I think my cross training is definitely helping my overall fitness. I also think my fueling/hydration strategy worked very well for my 1st try. I ate 2 Clif shot blocks (w/ 1/2 caffeine) at the start, then ate one at the 5, 7, 9, and 11 mile marks. I also began drinking water or gatorade at these same mile marks. Overall, I felt like my energy level stayed really high and was definitely not a limiter (my leg muscles were the limiter!).

Miles 11-13: 8:13, 7:29, 7:21

Getting close to the finish, I was very happy to almost be finished with the pain I felt in my legs. About a quarter mile from the finish, I picked up some Mardi Gras beads some people were handing out. I kept my foot on the gas and cruised into the finish w/ my beads and a smile on!

Last section: 7:12 pace

Train more extensively; my muscles/joints are not ready for this distance although my cardio system is. I simply need to be running more pain-free mileage.

Eat something lighter/blander the night before. No real issues, but I don't like the "brick in the belly" feeling.

Run better tangents. My Garmin said I ran 13.3 miles. Though some variance is probably normal, I still know I can do better at this.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased considering this was my first 1/2 mary and my training was cut short due to an injury. Looking forward to shaving time off this in the future.

Walked around and stretched for the next 30 minutes.


-Lack of training

-Wind




Only issues I saw were the crowd at the start (unavoidable, but might be better to have separate 1/2 and full starts). My wife also had some issues with her chip that she's trying to work out. I don't have a huge frame of reference, but I think it was a very well-run race. I'll definitely do it in the future.