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Chambersburg Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
United States
Chambersburg Road Runners Club
45F / 7C
Precipitation
Total Time = 1h 24m 57s
Overall Rank = 9/270
Age Group = 30-34M
Age Group Rank = 1/
Pre-race routine:

Up at 5:30am with the usual breakfast. Left around 6:30. It was chilly and pouring down rain. Roads were flooded. Wind was howling. Just a really miserable day.
Event warmup:

I ran about a 1/2 mile as a warm-up with 20 minutes of stretching. I really didnt want to do any more than that because of the rain and wind. I thought it was better to stay warm and dry as long as possible.
Run
  • 1h 24m 57s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 06m 29s  min/mile
Comments:

The race immediately started off into a headwind. It wasn't too bad though. There were about 8-10 faster runners that immediately got a gap. I was about 10th after the 1 mile mark (6:21). A pack of about 12 started forming behind me. I hit some brutal headwinds around mile 1.5 and decided to drop back for a while. By mile 2, we had formed a nice efficient running pack. Every so often, somebody would try to run up the road, but the wind was so brutal that they would eventually give up and drop back to the group. It just wasn't worth running alone with a good sized pack right behind you. We ran in this pack from miles 2-7 and took turns in the front. By mile 5, the pack started getting smaller. The 2 lead women were still in this pack and looking strong. Miles 4-7 were brutal. 30-40mph constant headwinds. The wind was blowing so hard that we kept running into each other. Nobody really took offense to all the contact though...I would just put out my hand and push them back in line. At mile 6, a couple small guys started pushing the hills and headwind. This is a pretty hilly course too. constant up and down rolling terrain. Our pack became a group of 4 at this point. I had a really tough time keeping up with these small guys. We finally reached the turnaround at mile 7.5. All 4 of us started laughing. The brutal headwind became a nice tailwind. Running never felt so easy. We had a chat for a mile or so and than it was back to business. I found out one of the guys was in my age group and we agreed to try to crush each other the last 5 miles. I took a gel and started feeling really good. I opened up my stride and really let the wind work for me. The little guys dropped back very quickly and the taller guys started stringing out the remnants of the pack. I guess the tailwind favored the longer stride but I'm not really sure about that. Miles 8-12 went very quickly. I started pushing the pace and got a nice gap on the guys behind me including the guy in my age group. Every so often I would look back and he would yell "I'm still back here". We got a good laugh out of that at the finish. My legs started hurting pretty bad around mile 11 but I never really let up the rest of the way. Finished the last 5 miles in about a 6:10 pace. That was about 45 seconds ahead of the next guy that was in our original running pack. I usually suffer the last couple miles of running races but that didn't happen this time. Nobody caught me this time...although I never caught anybody from the faster group either.

This makes me really wonder what kind of time I have in me on a flat course in better conditions. 1:23 maybe???

Splits:
Miles 0-4: 25:55 (6:29 pace)
Miles 4-8: 27:40 (6:55 pace)
Miles 8-12: 24:47 (6:12 pace)
Miles 12-13.1: 6:38
What would you do differently?:

Not much really. Running in the pack was the best decision I made. I was able to save some in the tank for the last 5 miles and really put together a nice run.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around for a minute and than grabbed my clothes and changed to keep dry.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The rain wasn't really a factor...but the wind was brutal. Running in a pack helped, but I think I could have shaved a minute or so off the time in ideal conditions.




Last updated: 2009-12-02 12:00 AM
Running
01:24:57 | 13.1 miles | 06m 29s  min/mile
Age Group: 1/
Overall: 9/270
Performance: Good
Course: This is an out and back course. There is a section in the middle where the out is different that the back but the roads are essentially the same. It is a fairly hilly course. Not really a PR type of course.
Keeping cool Good 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
Organized? Yes
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2010-03-15 8:22 AM

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Regular
117
100
Gettysburg, PA
Subject: Chambersburg Half Marathon


2010-03-16 6:40 AM
in reply to: #2726364

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Master
1497
1000100100100100252525
Maryland
Subject: RE: Chambersburg Half Marathon
Wow, congrats on keeping such a good pace in that wind!  Nice race.  If you can tough that out you can run in anything!
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