The first 4.5mi were relatively flat, a few rollers here and there but nothing major. At that point you come to a hill which is about 360' of climbing at a 7% grade. There were a lot of people walking up the hill, so I was passing people pretty regularly. I started to get worried that I was spending way more energy than I should have going up the hill but I figured that I would just deal with that later. My pace slowed from 7:40/mi in the first 4.5mi to about 9:30/mi up the hill, so not too terrible. Then came the downhill, this was about 280' of downhill at about the same grade. Lots of people were putting on the brakes hard so I was passing them like crazy. I think that most of the downhill I was doing 5:50-6:00/mi, basically just slow enough to not trip myself up and eat shit running down. Finished the last 0.6mi to the turnaround (relatively flat) and started back. Going back up the shorter hill was tough, but not impossible. I think my pace slowed to the low 9:XX/mi on this hill, so I was still passing a fair amount of walkers. Again, the thought crossed my mind that maybe these people are all smart for walking. I figured, at that point, that I only had 5mi to go once I got to the top of the hill and could pretty much coast it in from there. Maybe not the best strategy, considering it is still almost half the race, but it worked out fine in the end. Cruised down the hill at a pretty good pace (probably low 6:XX/mi) and then hit the flats. At that point I started feeling my legs pretty good. The turnover seemed much harder but my pace wasn't slipping so I was fine with it. The last two miles I tried to kick in a bit harder but I felt like I couldn't get my legs to turnover any faster. Ultimately, I ended up shaving ~10s/mi off in those last two miles, but it didn't feel like I was going any faster (felt slower actually). I crossed the finish line and just came to a complete stop. My legs felt like they still needed to move but I wasn't having any of that from them. They are mine and they will do as I command.

This was my first ever standalone half marathon and I feel like I had did pretty well for my fitness/running level. I was thinking I would come in closer to 2 hr due to the hills and the fact that I haven't run a HM other than in Vineman, but I beat that by quite a bit.

When I crossed the finish line, I heard that the guy that won did it in 1:18...WTF, who runs trails at sub-6 pace? That is crazy, I need that guys legs.

Nothing, paced it pretty evenly with about a 2 min negative split. So I can't really complain.

Got my medal and then walked over to the curb to stretch. Stretched for about 10 minutes before heading to my car to make the long trek back. They were having an after race party but it was in SD which was another 30 min south so I would have been driving all day to get home if I had gone. I stopped by a gas station on the way out and grabbed some super delicious red vines.

I should have grabbed some chocolate milk. Chocolate milk is so delicious and is a great recovery drink. I love chocolate milk and even scientists agree that chocolate milk is great for rebuilding muscles. Chocolate milk cholcolate milk, chocolate milk chocolate milk chocolate milk. Chocolate milk chocolate milk chocolate milk chocolate milk. CHOCOLATE MILK. (just watched Kona, and learned that chocolate milk is apparently the best thing EVAR).


Limited training. I haven't actually done run longer than about 9 miles since Vineman (so July-ish). Wasn't really training for this race as it's the off-season and I signed up for it on a whim.


There were three aid stations on this race (one being at the turnaround), so essentially you had 5 chances to get water/electrolyte from the course. I didn't use any of them, but they seemed to be well stocked and the volunteers seemed to be doing a good job.

I gave them a below average on race activities because there was not food/drink at the finish line (aside from water). That said, I probably wouldn't have eaten it anyways since most races seem to do pizza. So anyone reading this should probably take this with a grain of salt coming from me.

Overall this was a good race. The organizers were pretty efficient and got everything moving within a minute or two of when they had originally planned.