Beautiful day for a run. I was shooting to run sub 1:40. I got into Corral A and made my way up to the front to try and get in front of the 1:$5 pace group. When I got in front of the pace group, I realized, I was only about 9-10 rows from the front. After the gun went off, I stayed with the pack and we were starting out pretty fast. My goal was to settle into a 7:35 pace, but I started out with a 7:12 first mile. After mile 1, I had some room and decided to settle into a more relaxed clip. Mile 2 was a 7:20. Still pretty darn fast. I didn't want to blow it out, so I tried to settle into 7:20s for a while.

At mile 10, I was feeling great, so I decided to turn it up a notch. I ran 7:16s for the next two miles and 7:09 for the last mile to finish feeling good and strong.

Race was fairly well supported from spectators although miles 9-10. Some highlights include the college kids playing AC/DC thunderstruck from their porch on Lane Avenue. That got me going. The stretch on Mile 8, where people are wrapping up the quarter marathon in front of the statehouse on broad street was a lot of fun as the crowd support there was great. Also was laughing with the Mud Ninjas in front of the Old Mohawk.

There was a bit of wind that had a mild impact, but it also help me stay cool through the most of the race. As I was crossing the finish line, I felt I would never be able to run a 13.1 at that pace again. The weather and my fitness level aligned well for this race.

As far as nutrition goes, I wanted to make sure I had some fuel for the 13.1, so I packed about 6 ounces of Infinit napalm in a Simple Hydration bottle in my shorts. Worked out well and I felt pretty good for the most part despite some pre-race intestinal discomfort.

BTW, all paces were from my GPS which had a good amount of signal bounce on the first and final laps.

Train for more speedwork to get a PR next time around. I had a great race and don't think I could do much differently.

I had to get to my daughter's track meet. So not much time for a warm-down. Grabbed a bagel, banana, and a bottle of water and then headed to the car.


Great race, great volunteers, great post-race (Although I had to leave early), and great course to give you a decent sample of Columbus with good crowd support. I highly recommend it.