This race was not in my original schedule, however, when my FTP decided he wanted to run the full in preparation for the USMC Marathon that we are both scheduled to run at the end of October I figured I may as well go along and run the half and use it as a long training run. I figured at least this way I could get in a longish training run without having to carry my own water. When the race finally got underway I was relieved as I was finally able to warm up. Of course, I had to stop at mile four at the porta-potty and pee, I really need to manage my race day urinating better. This goes for both road races and triathlons. In any case this was actually a fairly easy run, despite the fact that I don't know how to read an elevation map and clearly saw that there was some decent elevation change but took Runningflyr's word that the course was flat, it still went well. There were a couple of times after mile ten where I caught myself shuffling and then had to correct my form but all in all I wasn't totally dead when I finished. The best part of this race was the two free beers I got when I was finished.

Despite the fact that this was not a PR for me, given my level of fitness this year, I'm pretty happy with the result and think that if I can squeeze in one long run of 18-20 miles in a couple of weeks I will be fine to finish my first full marathon at the end of October. I took one GU at mile 6. In retrospect I think I should have had a GU 15 minutes before the start and then taken one at mile 5.5 and I would have been better off. But I feel pretty comfortable now with what my nutrition strategy will be for USMC. Additional bonus: I was able to race one last road race as a 20-something before I turn 30 tomorrow :)

I cracked my two free post race beers, texted the family and updated facebook while I waited for Runningflyr to finish the full - who had an awesome race and set a new PR by 6 minutes on a much more challenging course then his previous best was set.


I didn't commit the time and volume to run training this year that I did last year.