St. George Half Marathon
1:28:16 New PR!
Change of course this year. Probably a faster course than last year. Honest with a few ups and downs.
Decided going into the race that if I could match last year's PR of 1:29 that I would be satisfied. I'm running slightly lighter than last but haven't particularly done much "road" training.
For the first time (ever) I warmed up prior to a race. Got in about 1 mile--next time I'll do 2 mi with some speed worked into it. From the start I hung with the 1:30 pacer with the idea that I'd stay with this group until the last hill (7.5) and then try to pull away.
The plan worked well. I ran comfortably with the 1:30 group through the early miles and at times was tempted to pull away. I decided against it and hung back. Last year I struggled to keep the 1:30 guy in my sights but this year I kept up without going into the red. Keeping pace up the hill sections was stressing me some but I hung right with the pacer matching stride for stride.
Finally the last gradual hill and steep section from about 5-7.5 came--we pushed it hard. I thanked and high-fived the pacer and left them. Felt really great going down and keep a quick pace up to mile 9. I had taken 1 GU at about mile 7 but was really starting to drag. I dropped another GU just after mile 9 and tried to keep at least a 6:40 pace. I slowed some through miles 10-11 (6:50/6:52) really gutting it out and starting to feel heavy. I could see the 1:30 pacer about a quarter mile behind.
With the help of the GU and some extra motivation I found my legs again. I concentrated on looking ahead at a runner in front of me and slowly picked off a few runners one-by-one.
One guy I had followed for much of the race started to slow down in the last mile. As I came up to him I said "Okay, let's go...you're not going to let me pass you now are you?" It helped him a bit as he picked it up. Strong(ish) last mile in 6:28 finally crossing in 1:28:16--NEW PR! beating last year's time by 1:16. Avg pace 6:44
60 Overall, 6 AD
Splits:
- 6:50
- 6:49
- 6:49
- 6:41
- 6:52
- 7:00
- 6:56
- 6:31
- 6:41
- 6:50
- 6:51
- 6:37
- 6:28
- 5:11
Congrats to Riley...crushed it. Good to see lots of the FRB'ers.
1 mile WU, 2 mile CD | 