I knew it was going to be a crappy race based on how I've been feeling, but I still thought I might have a shot at breaking 1:40, but definitely not 1:35 as was my original goal. I found my boss at the start line and it was really nice as he ran with me for most of the race even though he could easily have taken off (he's a 3:00 marathoner).

Tried not to go out too fast on the first mile, but the second was definitely too much, so we backed it off. After three miles we were onto the trail itself (paved railroad trail, basically flat) and fell into a nice groove. Started to feel a little draggy as we got to the big downhill near 7. As we climbed the hill at the turnaround I knew there was not any gas in the tank and just put it in cruise control. A lot of people passed us up the hill. My boss saw his brother that was running the full going down as we went up and high-fived him.

Back on the trail again it was in damage control mode and as you can see from my splits, was creeping closer to 8:00's. At 9-1/2 I told my boss to go ahead and take off to see what he could make up in the last three miles. I was in "just finish" mode and the next few miles dragged on. At the end of 12 I was at 1:31:55 and knew that is would be hard to break 1:40 at my current pace. I tried to pick it up a little, but it wasn't enough to get under.

Oh well, finished at least without totally dying and embarassing myself. Chris ended up doing a 1:36 something and finishing about 30 people in front of me. Based on last year there was probably about 500 1/2 marathoners entered, so I should be in the top 20% or so. I'll find out when they post final results (they were only up to about 175 when I left printed on the wall and there were plenty of people left on the trail).

Not be sick for the week leading up to the race maybe??? I'm sure it is bronchitis or pneumonia as it is taking this long to clear up.

And drink, because I only had a splash of Gatorade at mile 3, and that was it for the whole race.

Walked back to the school where it was being hosted, had a banana and a bottle of water and went home.


Being sick, no training for a week.


Good race, bad performance. I would recommend it, but since it is so early in the year it is usually cold like today.