Sat November 13th - Half Marathon - 16.109mi

Distance 13.11 mi
Duration 1:11:49 @ 5:28 min/mi
Shoe Zoom Streak Xc (NZS)
Route McDonalds Half Marathon
WUCD Shoe Zoom Vomero 4 (NZV)
Distance WU/CD 3.00 mi
Comments Half Marathons are difficult.

This was my first adventure in the 13.1 distance. I drove down to Richmond last night in hopes of running a good half, as I have been training mostly for this distance since the summer time. Got into RVA around 7 pm, picked up my race number, and went straight to the usual Mexican Feast/beers to carb up for the next morning.

I was hoping for a top 5 showing to bring home some cash (5th was 100$), but of course three Kenyans, an Ecuadorian, and some VA studs showed up. The plan was to go out in 5:25s and hold on for ten miles before making a move with 5K to go and roll the last half of the final downhill mile. Things were much more difficult than I predicted and was just holding on for most of the run and trying to finish respectively.

Went out the first 4 miles feeling really smooth and under 5:30 pace before following another runners move to drop 2 miles close to 10:40. We then entered into some tough rolling hills in Bryan Park and I began to crack passing through 7. By mile 8 I had this revelation that I still had over 5 miles to go and I was suffering from the recent inclines. At one point I thought I was finished, with my quads locking up, but I slowed up a little bit and managed to recover by mile 10, regaining some composure for a decent finish. The 10 mile split was slower than planned but I was being a little over ambitious for a debut half-marathon and perhaps it was better to be more conservative. I ran mostly alone from this point. My last mile was my fastest which is always nice and the downhill finish might have been more painful than a flat with my quads in their current state. Finished somewhat satisfied that I was able to hold on, but really wanted to crack into the hour 10 barrier. The ba lls of my feet are basically their own blisters and I'm glad to get this race out of the way. With this experience I feel I can easily take a minute off this time and with better training, get into single digits. Finished 8th overall. Winner was 1:03.

Splits;

5:27
5:33
5:29
5:22
5:21
5:28
33:52 (10K)
5:27
5:39
5:29
5:34
54:50 (10 Mile)
5:35
5:31
5:17
31.0


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