beginning of the run was congested to say the least, my goal was to stay with the 1:40 pace group for as long as possible and of course right off the bat I lost them! Mostly because of the massive amount of people. It was very difficult to get into any kind of stride and expended a lot of energy. It seems a lot of other people wanted to run in the same pace group but ran at 9:00 instead. PIA.
1st 5K of the race was spent avoiding people and then working to get back into line with the group. This was difficult due to the course going back into a neighborhood that had really narrow roads that made the group tighten up even more. I did probably run a little too hard during this time as the splits will show, but I wanted to make sure I was where I needed to be. In Hindsight I probably could have just held back a little and slowly brought the pack back in instead of such a quick catch up. Overall effort was pretty good, I didnt feel overly stress and towards the end was able to find a pretty good stride. Results
Mile 1: 7:49 AVGHR 153
Mile 2: 7:21 AVGHR 164
Mile 3: 7:21 AVGHR 164

It seems the next 5 miles almost went off flawlessly. I started this section with the Marathon pace group but realized they were running a little slower than I wanted. At this point the 1:40 group was just a little further up, so Clint I both went to the outside and caught up with the main group. I stayed right in line with the group and CLint kept on going up in front of them. This was around mile 5 and proved to be the last time I was able to run with Clint. At mile 6 I did start to feel a littl stressed and started having that hold back a little feeling. Not wanting to blow up, I slowed up, mostly because my HR was holding up around 170 and there was no way I could hold that effort for another 7 miles. This had me drop about 20yds behind the pacer. Not a big deal at this time but did prove to be a mistake later on in the race since the pacer just kinda kept pulling away from me. From here everything was smooth until the end of mile 8, and then it happened...
Mile 4: 7:36 AVGHR 165
Mile 5: 7:32 AVGHR 168
Mile 6: 7:35 AVGHR 168
Mile 7: 7:38 AVGHR 168
Mile 8: 7:54 AVGHR 167
And then the decline

Mile 8 went through the wildwood metro park, so a lot of turns and some rolling hills. About 8.75 was the 1st sign, my knee started to stiffen up and felt a little "limpy". With this going on my 1st thought was crap my knee is going to give out. I pulled up a little bit to try and allow it to relax, again something I regret doing. Most times when I start to feel knee issues and slow down it actually gets worse not better. Oh and it did get worse, around 9.75 it felt like something just stabbed me in the side of the knee. Quickly stopped to get a stretch in and it went away just as quickly as it came. Started back up and able to get to around 10.25 and it happened again. Same stabbing feeling, this time though it felt as though something was pushing up from my foot and right through my knee. Extremely painful, but just like previous as soon as I stopped it went away. I walked a short distance then started running again. I kept the pace somewhat easy due to my knee being extremely stiff, no pain but stiff. A few times during this period I did have to walk mostly due to my knee feeling like it was just about ready to stab me and I didn't want that feeling again. Worst part was with-in 1/4 mile of finish there was a steep downhill that just seemed to make my knee scream! Once I hit the flat section I was able to finish strong.
Mile 9: 8:22 AVGHR 163
Mile 10: 8:58 AVGHR 154
Mile 11: 8:34 AVGHR 159
Mile 12: 8:22 AVGHR 159
Mile 13: 8:29 AVGHR 159

One more item that deserves to be noted is the weather. What was supposed to be a sunny day early in the week turned into a dreary wet, Normal day in Toledo. I now remember why I moved away from Toledo, the weather always seems to SUCK! At race time the temp was around 48 and there was a slight drizzle. By Mile 6 it was a light rain and by mile 10 it was steady rain. By this point my shoes and socks where soaked to the point I could feel the water squishing out of them with every step. Not sure how much this affected me, but it was definitely an annoyance. Especially with the water dropping off my visor, which I'm glad I decided to wear.

Nothing, effort was good and even though I didn't reach my goal, I think knocking 3 minutes off of my PR is not a bad day! The knee issues do suck, but I did what I could on this given day. No dissappointments. Now time to heal and work towards the next race. I would like also like to finally make it pass the 9 mile mark, it seems in every Half-marathon to date, mile 9 is my demise. Need to work on being strong and push through the wall.
Last note...I would like to run this race healthy just one time! Both times so far I have had some issues, last year Hamstring, this year knee. I guess thats what makes it fun. The struggle to stay healthy and still perform at the highest of your ability.