Very good run. I could definately feel only putting in 45 min a week for the past month. I started off strong, running well within my limits. After the first 2 miles of holding back and continously passing people, I turned it up a bit. I never pushed harder then I should, but definately left everything out on the course. I maintained a consistant pace throughout the race up until mile 10 where I hit the hills of Ft Ben st park. At the beginning, I figured if I had problems, they would be at mile 10. At mile ten, just before the big uphill section, I started to really feel my lack of training. I was really dragging until I heard a guy next to me comment at mile 11 that we were 81 minutes in. That meant I had 20 minutes to pull off 2.1 miles and meet my goal time. I knew I was going faster then 10 min miles, so the fact that I was on pace to beat my PR was enough to push out the next two miles. By the time I hit mile 13, I could see the line but I was at the bottom of the tank. I had just enough left for a final push across the line. Turning the corner to the finish line I see the time.....1:39:40.... I was almost into the 1:30's! I pulled out everything I had left for the final push across the line and crossed right around 1:40:20 gun time. After crossing, I realized that my corral was back from the start line, and that it took some time before I crossed the mat. Possibly 20 seconds or more....

Train more. I could feel that even if I was just comfortable running 10+ miles, or had added another day or two of running, I would have been much quicker. There was a section in the middle of the race where I was pacing off a guy doing 7:20's and it felt relaxed.

Figure out shoes before the race. I bought a new pair of shoes three weeks out. After running in them for one week, I had to special order a new pair 1/2 size bigger and 1 width narrower. That gave me 1 week in the new shoes before race day. Turns out the shoes gave me blisters on the balls of my feet. That slowed me down too.

Walked over to the food tent and picked up a brat...fresh off the grill. Drank a bunch of water and headed for the car.


Basic Fitness