This was my first half marathon in a race setting. I've covered way more than race distance in training runs, so I was just hoping to get out and get a good time. I beat my expectations! My stomach never really settled down, so hydration wasn't good and I didn't eat anything. Those were my biggest limiters.

I was aiming for 1:30 and I beat that, so all is good. I didn't do lap times, so I'm going to put what I remember. Mile 1 was right at 7:00 which I knew was a little slow, but I purposely did that to avoid going out too hard. The next mile was spent finding a good pace and getting comfortable. These two miles were fun because there were a lot of spectators here, but then it got lonely.

I started to set my sights on the person in front of me and chase them down. I was running next to a few guys for awhile who were also looking for a 1:30 pace. I guess we sped up around mile 5 and one dropped and the other and I were running together for a bit. I felt us pick up the pace significantly and we were probably sub 6:30 for awhile, then he dropped too. I knew that without someone to pace off of, I'd probably out run myself and run out of gas too soon.

Around mile 6, I caught a group of 3 runners who were at a comfortable pace for me so I stuck behind them. My plan was to stick with them until mile 10, then push it after that. I found out that they were just training and not in the race, so scrap that plan.

I was back to the old plan of hunting down the people in front of me. The course was out and back, so when the leaders started to pass us going the other way, I saw that there were less than 20 ahead of me and the female leaders weren't far off, so I set out to catch them.

I saw a valiant and awesome in this race. The female leader was killin the competition and she saw someone she knew, so she gave up 1st to wait to pace her partner. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd females were all right in front of me at this point and I paced off of them as the pace mentioned that she was setting a 6:30 pace. Sounds good.

Then her partner dropped off and it was me and the female leader. She had a good pace going and was holding the 6:30 pretty well. She started to slow down and I felt it. I realized at mile 9.5 that I could get a sub 1:30 if I kept it up, so I passed her.

This was a tough decision as I could see that the next person ahead was a long way off and I probably wouldn't be able to catch him, so I would have to pace myself and I wouldn't have anyone or anything to chase, which makes it harder. I did fine...for awhile.

At mile 10.5 I got a horrible side stitch and almost threw up. I slowed it down and waited for it to pass, which it did in 1/2 a mile. I lost close to a minute here. It was bad. My stomach never felt right after that. All I took in during this race was a swallow of water.

I kept going and holding the pace fairly well. At mile 12, a guy who turned out to be in my age group passed me at a pace significantly faster than mine. I couldn't keep with him, so I just help my pace the best I could. I was really feeling the lack of water and food at this point.

I ran up the hill over the bridge which meant that the finish was close. Crossed the line in 1:28. I was very happy with the time. I thought I was in the top 15 overall which made me real happy. In the back of my mind, I thought I had an age group podium, but didn't want to get my hopes up.

I checked the results. 11th overall! Awesome! That's a really good place for a 1st HM. Then I saw that I was 5th in my age group. I can't lie...I was a little disappointed to have 5th in my age group and be so close to the top overall. I guess a lot of fast people in my age group showed up today. Next time.

Figure out that stomach issue. I need to eat and drink more. Hopefully it was just the off schedule during the week. I'm feeling pretty confident for my marathon in May!

At a banana, drank as much water as my stomach would handle. I ate some trail mix too. I did a light stretch then waited at the finish line for my girlfriend to finish. She did great!

They had an Easter Egg hunt for adults...so I did that which was fun! Just got some candy, although there were some nice prizes hidden (shoes, Bulls tickets, GPS watches, etc.). Congrats to those who got them!


Upset stomach! Agh! I need the water and food to help those last few miles.


I'd do it again! It was fun and a cool run through the forest instead of through a city or neighborhood. Weather was great for running as well.