My training plan for this race was the most agressive 1/2 marathon one I could muster. The plan itself put more miles in, but I ramped it up even further with my speed workouts. That said, I ran far less than it called for. I substituted bike and swim days for the "junk" mile days, and I skipped a few of my LONG RUNS and either biked hard, or just plain skipped it. We are trying to get our house ready to sell, and I've just been lacking time. HOWEVER, I've also been training a LOT of people, and I've been doing some of their workouts with them, so I've done a great deal more LEG exercises than I EVER EVER have, and all of them were based on power and speed, so I was interested to see how that all worked out. The weather man and the weather report on the internet were all over the freaking board. At 6:30am at our house, it was raining, but the weather report had said it wouldn't do that until around noon. The HOUR BY HOUR report online said the rain would stop around 9am, and not start again until about noon. However, a look at the radar told a different story; one that anyone could read. A HUGE green and yellow blob was already over us, and it seemed to last about 3 states wide, so how the weather report could be so wrong was beyond me. Dumbasses. So at 6:50, we loaded up and off we went. Got to a fairly close side street parking spot about 3 blocks from the start, which for Cincinnati is nearly impossible...and we watched it rain for about 15 minutes until finally venturing out. We walked down the start, where I changed into my rain/running jacket. I was wearing shorts as well, and my Ironman hat. I took off for a warmup run around the streets, then back to the family, where kisses were given and then I seeded myself near the front. Songs were sung, annuoncements were announced and the rain...THE RAIN nearly stopped. It went down to a light drizzle. Perfect. A freaking CANNON went off to start the race, which I'm told, made several runners and spectators nearly shit themselves, and off we went. I struck a comfortable pace, one that I thought I could live with for a long time. After about 300 yards, I checked my Garmin and saw I was at a 6:35 pace. Hmmm. A bit faster than I needed for a PR, but a little time in the bank wouldn't hurt, just as long as it wasn't too much. Down Columbia Parkway we went, which is like a roller coaster. Up. Down. Up. Down. Not much flat to this thing, but none of the hills are very steep, so whatever pained you going up, gave it back to you going down. Nothing much to report for several miles. I held a dead on steady pace and my effort level never waivered. I felt good. I felt strong, and I felt like I could hold this pace unless some crazy "marathon" thing happened. At the turn around, I took stock. All systems go, and I knew I wasn't far from the front, but didn't count those ahead of me. I didn't really care. All I was shooting for here was a sub 1:30, and a PR if the gods were smiling on me. This was a MUCH MUCH tougher course than the PR I set on the half a couple of years back, so I wasn't sure how this would all turn out. About a mile or so later, TORRENCE Parkway loomed. This freaking hill is very steep, and the people who designed this course sure picked an interesting way to add a few hundred yards to an already tough day. So I took a right, shorted my stride, got my breathing right, and headed up the hill with everyone else. Ya know...by the time I got to the top, it wasn't so bad....training? It did take a toll on my pace though, so I had to haul ass back down this thing to put my time back in the bank. Nothing like a little insurance. A few hundred yards later, I got my legs feeling "normal" again, and on I went. Up, down, up, down. With less than a mile to go for the 15K to finish, the 1/2 marathon took an right off an exit ramp and headed down and around towards the river. This is the point where I decided to ditch my jacket. The big rain never materialized, and it was getting a little to toasty. Soon, we crossed the Purple People Bridge into Newport KY. This is the route I have trained on for the last 17 years, so it felt good to be on familiar road. We hung a left off the bridge, did a few turns, and found ourselves on RIVERBOAT ROW, which is a little "road" that runs on the river side of the flood wall, next to the muddy Ohio River, which is still a swollen, flooded mess. Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" was playing somewhere. Great. On the other side of the Aquarium, we took a left, and back away from the river, where we took a few quick turns to find ourselves on the Southgate Taylor Bridge, heading back into Cincinnati. My pace didn't really waiver up to this point, but the bridge was gonna hurt. I tucked in and went at it and when I crested in the middle, I turned on a little speed. Less than 2 miles to go, and I wasn't gonna let this one bridge mess up this pace. I was actually feeling much stronger that I thought I could or would. I turned off the bridge and headed back into the little side streets that was added on to make this a half marathon. Eventually, I turned back towards the finish line and went up a hill to join the 15K'ers again. A right turn, and then it was straight ahead for about 500 yards to the finish. I felt freaking awesome, and looking at my watch, I saw that I was going to finish well under 1:30, so I turned on the speed. I was passing loads of people, but they were all 15k'ers, as the other 1/2 marathoners in front of me had been about 300 yards ahead, so I had no real chance of catching up to any of them, but on I went, wanting to make this a strong finish. As I approached the finish line, I looked to my left and saw Mary, Erin and Conor. I have a big smile and wave. Then I finished. 1:27:20...a PR by 12 seconds. WHEW! Close, but a PR is a PR! I felt crazy good. Not destroyed like so many other races. Could I have gone harder? Faster? Who knows. I had to play it kinda conservative to a point, because I was doing alot of uncharted training, but it all seemed to have worked out. Got my "ham" picture taken, met my family, and got some food. Then it was time to watch Mary and Erin do Erin's first 5K race.

Nothing. This went flawlessly.

Alot of walking, eating free food and more walking. Also jogged about a mile to go back and get a jacked I ditched at about the 8ish mile mark.


Gravity.


Moderately hard course that did a good job testing my training. Happy day.