As for me, the only thing I have to say about the race is that it was hot. Way hot. I watched the 1:55 pace leader drop out of the race hot.
I got downtown about 6:15 am and had no trouble finding a place to park. I took a bathroom break and walked around to see the finish line and the starting line for the marathon. By then it was time to line up for the 1/2 start at 7:20. I lined up a little bit in front of the 1:50 pace group and was ready to go. The first few miles were great. Flat or slightly down hill and basically shady. My mile splits were:
8:02, 8:19, 8:10
Miles 4-7 had some rolling hills, including Observatory Hill during mile 4. Note to race planners: Runners are not sad if you don't plan the course to go up Observatory. I slowed down a bit, but my pacing wasn't too bad. It was hot but not horribly so. Splits were:
8:31, 8:24, 8:36, 8:34
I saw Linda cheering during mile 7, and it gave me a huge boost.
Miles 8-13.1 were not fun. I'm pretty sure I saw the girl running in front of me in that picture receiving medical care by the side of the course later on. It was hot. I got angry at the world at mile 8. We started running past houses and people sprayed us with hoses and sprinklers. This improved my disposition. My mile splits were:
8:54, 9:13, 9:58, 9:51, 9:30, 10:03.
I just fell apart.
Strangely I'm not that upset about the whole thing. I got passed too much at the end, but I passed a lot of other people- some who were probably walking the whole way back. I didn't quit as much as I would have liked to at mile 8. I need to work on running uphill. My finish time was 1:58:22, which is more than 10 minutes off my goal, but under the circumstances I think it was an okay time. Other than the hill thing I don't think there was anything wrong with my pacing or preparation. I just wasn't prepared for the heat.
But there will be other races other days. I'm getting back into my normal workout schedule running 5mi easy yesterday, and I'm back in the gym for weights today. And back to work. Have a great Tuesday, all!
