This was a "C" race for me, which is supposed to equate to a training run with 2500 friends. But as usual, I got caught up in the event, and went out faster than planned, averaging 9:15 pace for the first 5 miles. My half mary PR pace is about 9:00/mile, so thought I'd be good. However, the hills quickly pointed out how little running I'd been doing lately (been bike focused lately), and very little hill work. So, I paid the price toward the end... the last 3 miles sucked.... no other way to say it. My HR was WAY too high for the pace I was running, so was forced to walk quite a bit toward the end, resulting in a time that was only marginally better than my run split at Lake Stevens 70.3 (which was also a hilly course). So much for an easy run on a beautiful day.

Train more and stick to my damn race plan!

Walked around a bit, streched and found the beer tent. Started to feel better after having two ice cold (free) beers and a pulled pork sandwich while sitting on the lawn listening to a good band...


I'm not the fastest runner in the world, but this was bad even by my standards. Need to do more road work and hill repeats.


One of the best organized and supported races yet (right up there with the Rock and Roll series). My only knock was the transportation (or lack there of) back to the designated parking area (Visitor's Center). We had to rely on the Colonial Williamsburg shuttle along with all the tourists. Decided not to wait in line and walk back with some of the other racers who made the same choice. Turned out to be a lot longer walk than I thought...