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ING Hartford Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Hartford, Connecticut
United States
Hartford Marathon
54F / 12C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 41m 38s
Overall Rank = 504/5138
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 68/328
Pre-race routine:

Was on vacation in Disney leading up to this race, so legs were pretty tired already. Arrived back in CT on Friday afternoon. Up at 4:45 am on Saturday morning. Car was loaded. Power Bar Energy and water/gatorade mix on the 60 minute drive to Hartford.
Event warmup:

Checked bag in at the Bushnell, hit the porta-let,and got in a 1 mile jog around Bushnell Park. That in itself was interesting. So congested. I think there were almost 8,000 runners this year (Half and Full combined).
Run
  • 1h 41m 38s
  • 13.3 miles
  • 07m 38s  min/mile
Comments:

This would be my first half marathon. I've run the distance leading up to the race. So completing was not going to be the issue. My concern was at what pace, running on tired legs, from walking at Disney all week. Been having a little IT band issue lately, and was concerned that was going to act up. I lined up about 15 minutes before the start. There was a guy near me doing the full marathon, in a "straight jacket" Can you imagine running 26.2 miles in a straight jacket? I had to ask why. Apparently he was trying to set a Guiness World Record. Interesting. He has run several marathons before at 3 hrs 15 minutes. Short of Boston Q. Anyway, gun goes off, and it takes a couple minutes to reach the start line. Plan was to hold 7:50ish pace, as evenly as possible. That was not possible at the start. With 8,000 people starting together, it was brutal trying to dodge all the traffic until about mile 1 when the half marathon splits from the Full. At this point I was able to pick up the pace. What really surprised me was for the first four miles, the pace for everyone was about the same, roughly 7:40's. I could hear people breathing behind me quite heavy, and all around me. I knew right then, these people are not pacing themselves, and are going to be hurting, really soon. Right at mile 4 or so, IT Band and outer left knee started to burn. At times it hurt pretty bad, other times it went away. There was no way I was not finishing the race. So I pushed through it. Motivation was that I was still holding my goal pace, (at times well ahead of that pace), and started dropping people like flies that out did themselves at the start. I really took advantage of the couple small down hills, which again, was rare. There really were not any hills here, not compared to where I live anyway.

As I mentioned in the mentor group, the mile markers seemed to be getting further and further off line, but it all makes sense now that they were probably accurate, as it depends where you run on the course. Nothing really eventful until mile 10. I wanted to pick up my pace at mile 10 as much as I could, and finish the last three miles strong. Being able to pick off more runners at this part of the race, and still feeling like I had plenty of endurance left, helped. I kind of blocked out the IT band issue at this point. Regarding the mile markers, I really pushed the pace when I hit mile 12 on MY Garmin, but I was still almost 3/10's of a mile from the 12 mile marker. between mile 12 and 13 is where I hit 189 on the HR running a low 6 pace. Holy sh*t. Surprisingly I didn't feel that, as adrenaline was getting me to that 13 mile marker. Which again, on My Garmin was before the actual marker. Next time I know to just follow their markers. As I hit that marker, and make a sharp right turn, I had no idea there would be a "tunnel" of people screaming and cheering. It was for a good 2/10th of a mile, and really helped push me to the finish. I can understand now how good that must feel when you see that finishing up an Iron Man. Very cool. Instant IT Band and left knee pain as soon as I crossed. It's interenting that one can drown that out with adrenaline, but how quickly it returns when adrenaline subsides.

Overall experience was very good today, and Hartford Marathon foundation put on another well organized event, as they have done all year long.


What would you do differently?:

Start closer to the start line as I can, to avoid all the "traffic"
Post race
Warm down:

Grabbed my finisher medal, some water, stretched. Chatted with a few people I didn't know. And I was out of there!!!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I am not sure if tired legs from vacation limited me today or not. I was able to reach my goal. Could I have run faster without the IT Band issue and tiredness from vacation? I have no clue. I can't use excuses, because I compeleted the race sub 1:45, which was what I was shooting for. Let's see what the next one brings. I really enjoyed this distance. 26.2 Marathon in the future???? Not in the plans right now. I think I am better off building up more speed than distance right now.




Last updated: 2011-10-15 12:00 AM
Running
01:41:38 | 13.3 miles | 07m 38s  min/mile
Age Group: 68/328
Overall: 504/5138
Performance: Good
Average HR 165, Max 189 (this was the last mile!!)
Course: Course is fairly flat. Run through some nice residential areas, with plenty of "fan" support and misc bands, DJ's etc throughout. Park St was the only let down. Not a great area.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2011-10-16 8:18 AM

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Subject: ING Hartford Half Marathon


2011-10-16 11:55 AM
in reply to: #3725485

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New Haven, CT
Subject: RE: ING Hartford Half Marathon
Nice report, good race Jeff!
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