Great Bay Half Marathon

Prior to race day, Jess and I decided to drive up Saturday and pickup my race number and then drive the race course. I wanted to drive the course because the topography map shown on the race site was set at such a huge scale it was hard to tell how hilly the race actually was, but I also wanted to mentally prepare myself for the race as well. Going into this race I wanted to see if a Personal Record (PR) was attainable.

With course map in hand, Jess and I started driving the course and at about mile 2.5 to mile 5 the course turned into a packed down sand/gravel road that was loaded with potholes. I was like you have to be kidding, we are running on this? So I stopped to check to see how bad it was to run on and it wasn’t that bad at all. We continued driving and miles 2.5 to 5 were rolling hills with nothing major that had some down hills. Once we got past mile 5 was right where the hills started. It started with a huge downhill into a little valley right to a good size hill right at mile 6 and mile 7. The good thing was that after each hill at mile 6 and 7 was that there was a flat section with little rolling hills, which made for a great recovery from the two hills. The great part of the race was going from miles 8 to 9 since it was mostly downhill. Once we reached mile 9 it was flat all the way to the home stretch with the exception of a small hill at mile 12.2 or so.

Jess and I arrived race day around 10am, which gave me an hour to the start of the race. I went for a about a 10 to 15 minute warm-up run and then came back and stretched out. While stretching out my shin splints were bothering me and I was still considering whether or not I was going to try and race in my racing flats or my regular training shoes. I ended up racing in my racing flats and right up to the start I was wondering how much of a good idea this was going to be since I’ve never run a half marathon in racing flats. Needless to say after stretching out I seemed to be okay. Right before the start I went for another 10 minute warm-up run to make sure I was ready to go and then headed for the Starting Line.
I lined up right on the Start Line since they started it a 6:00 minute per mile pace. My race strategy going into the race was not a PR because of the hills so I figured I’d still be around a 6:24 per mile pace. The first mile ended up being a 5:58 and it was comfortable. I was also surprised to find myself in the front pack of runners with the exception of two runners who were running the first couple of miles at about a 5:30 per mile pace. At mile 5 things started to thin out and left me with a pack of four runners. It was a great group that I ended up running with and we even ended up talking a little during the race. I stayed behind them because after mile 5 we were running into the wind. I figured, why should I spend my energy to break the wind when I could use them to do it. We ended up running as a pack of 4 right up to mile 12 and that was were everyone started to thin out and head for a strong finish. Since this race was my longest run of the season, I ended up hitting the wall right at the last small hill at about mile 12.2. It wasn’t till I looked at my watch at mile 13 did I realize I was about to set a PR for the half marathon. There was no sprint to the finish for me since my legs were so cramped, but needless to say I was happy when I finished with a time of 1:18.19, which is a 5:59 per mile pace. Once I got through the finish line chute it was great to see Jess smiling and saying, “You beat your old time and I got some great pictures of you!” I ended shattering my Half Marathon PR by 6 minutes! My previous PR for the Half Marathon was 1:24.16 (a 6:24 per mile pace) at the B.A.A Half Marathon that was held on October 7, 2007.

My time was good enough for a 6th place overall finish and I was 1st in my age group by about 9 minutes! After I finished I grabbed a bottle of water and a bottle of Accelerade. Accelerade has become my recovery drink of choice and I almost prefer this over Gatorade. After hitting the recovery tent, Jess and I headed for the gym so I could stretch out. The funniest part was when I entered the gym, the people that had been waiting for their loved ones and friends to finish thought I was the 1st place finisher and started clapping for me! It was great and I didn’t mention I was the 6th finisher. Hahaha! After stretching out we waited for the awards ceremony. The awards were great! I ended up getting a mug and inside was a gift certificate to Margarita’s Restaurant for 2 free dinner entrees and a 50% off gift certificate on any of the Loco Running shoes they offer. (Loco Running was the race organizer who also happens to make shoes and is a running club in NH.) Overall I ended up winning about $100 dollars in gift certificates, not bad for a $40 dollar registration fee!

Overall, I was thrilled, psyched and amazed that I was able to pull off such a great Half Marathon time with only 11 weeks of training under my belt. I can’t wait to see how I make out in my 2nd year of triathlon.

Here were my mile splits from the race:
1 – 5:58
2 – 6:03
3 – 6:00
4 – 6:03
5 – 5:54
6 – 5:55
7 – 5:45 (mostly downhill at this point)
8 – 6:04
9 – 5:54
10 – 5:54
11 – 5:54
12 – 5:57
13 – 6:14