It appears my watch had a full memory when I went to save today's info. I think it went poof rather than letting me delete something. Oh well, no splits for me.

We really lucked out with the weather - overcast and cool, but not raining. Michael did the 10k and lined up ahead of me. I lined up with the pacers planning to finish in 2:10. It was a loud group and some people knew each other. I wasn't sure how fun that was going to be!

The pacers planned to run just a few seconds faster than 9:55 to come in right under 2:10. Fine with me. I told myself to just fall in behind the group and run like it was a training run. I hit the lap button at each mile and checked the pace, but that was it as far as looking at my watch.

I have to say that the race actually felt sort of "long". Not that the distance was longer than 13.1, but that even though I was out there for the shortest amount of time ever for a half, that the time went by slowly from mile to mile. Sort of weird.

First 3 miles ticked by. Felt fine. Told myself to at least hang on with the group until mile 10 and then I could think about moving ahead if it felt right. Hit the halfway point and took a Gu sometime right after that. There was blue Gatorade on the course along with water. From the halfway to mile 10 felt like a long time. I felt fine, though. I took my second Gu sometime after mile 10. We had banked a bit of time so the pacer dropped back a bit but I stayed on at the same pace. At some point the pacer caught up to me again. When I hit mile 11 I think I started to push ahead of the pacer. I was never mentally or physically in a really bad way, but the last two miles were harder than the previous miles. I told myself to "just let the pain settle" and to run strong and even. I knew I had a huge PR in the bag as long as I just stayed strong and didn't do anything stupid. I figured I should come in under 2:10 pretty much for sure. I didn't look at my watch to do the math, though, figured I might get too mental about it. I just wanted to run on feel.

When I came to mile 12 I hit the lap button but didn't check the pace, I just ran on feel. Didn't want to get excited or frustrated in that last mile. Just wanted to stay even based on feel. I was starting to lose a bit of steam but I knew there were only 1.1 miles left and that it'd feel great to have that PR when I was done. And I knew there would be a hamburger and beer later in the afternoon! Going down a ramp to go under Lake Shore Drive I felt my feet start to cramp, but whatever at this point! So close to the end. Climbed back up and figured the end was near. Had a bit more to go and just tried to keep it even. Coming to the finish I saw Michael and that was great. Even closer to the finish I saw my friend Lindsay, a nice boost. Finished and then finally looked at my watch. Under 2:10. Boom.

Nothing. For awhile I felt like I might be able to speed up, especially if I had someone pacing me. But I was glad I stuck with the group as long as I did since the last 2-3 miles were more taxing than I thought they might be.

Grabbed some food and changed into some warmer clothing. Said goodbye to Lindsay, stretched a bit and then we headed to the train.


Need to train faster to run faster than this.


Nice race. Didn't love the course, but it was ok. There seemed to be enough fluid on the course, but the tables were pretty short so you really had to get in there. I missed getting fluid at the first set of tables since I didn't realize how small the group was. Wasn't a huge deal but I would have taken Gatorade there and had to wait til the next set of tables 2 miles later or so. I would consider doing this race again.

Big PR. Very happy.