I’m grateful to get in another race this year. It's been over a years since my last half marathon and I didn't know what to expect coming into this race. My training has been going well, body has been recovering quickly, and I've been more patient than ever in the build-up.
I was having GI issues (bad food or bug the day before and felt effects the morning of the race as well).
Warmed up before
the race with Mike Nelson. As is the case before every race, we were on
the lookout for speedy guys. Last year Bret Hales ran the race in 63
minutes and change. At the starting line I felt confident about finishing
in the top three knowing both Mike and Justin Park could give me a run for
the money.
Mike and I decided
to be patient in the first mile and ease into the race. With a fast start
it's easy to go sub 5 minutes on this course--the first mile is pretty steep.
I ran with Mike
for nearly the first seven miles, keeping our pace fast but controlled.
Despite handling the pace smoothly, Mike was breathing pretty hard and I
decided to leave the comfort zone of running with one of my favorite training
buddies and see what my best looked like for the day. I took the lead and
was able to maintain it through the finish.
Often before
races, I set a goal, determine what my average pace needs to be, look at
previous races on the same course, and go through a number of other
mechanical processes. I decided to keep things simple this time.
Run with courage
and run with wisdom.
Every race I run I
feel pull between two forces: the pull to slow down and relax and the pull to
perform my best. I imagine the same battle takes place in nearly every
runner. In those moments when doubt would creep in, as it always does, I
would focus on running with courage. In those moments when I started to
feel impatient and was tempted to run faster, I would focus on wisdom.
This balance seemed to keep me honest--to not sell out to my doubts and
fears, but to not be foolish and run faster than was prudent for my
conditioning.
I started to feel
the effects of some GI issues the last few miles that I feel caused me to fall
off pace just a bit, but they weren't so bad that I couldn't maintain a healthy
pace.
Before the race I
was clear that I wanted to go sub 69 and was very excited to see the clock
still under 68 as I approached the finish line. I was ecstatic to finish
the race just under 68--only 15 seconds or so behind my PR for the course.
Here is a link to
my Strava report:
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