I posted this in my training log, but in case you don't read it and might be interested, here is my race report from this morning:
30SEP06
Park2Park Half-Marathon
Holland, MI
1:32:10
(7:02 avg pace)
splits and notes:
mile 1 - 6:54
mile 2 - 6:53
mile 3 - 6:48
(Finally settle in and loosen up.)
mile 4 - 7:00
mile 5 - 7:01
mile 6 - 6:57
(These next few splits amazed me every time I clicked my watch.)
mile 7 - 6:57
mile 8 - 6:57
mile 9 - 6:59
(Shortly after this we turned into the wind til the end.)
mile 10 - 7:06
(1:09:36 About 40 seconds off my 10 mile PR race 2 weeks ago)
mile 11 - 7:09
mile 12 - 7:07
mile 13.1 - 8:17
(7:28) (Ugh. Not an especially strong finish.)
Why can't weathermen be wrong every once in awhile?
It was, as predicted, cold and rainy out this morning. It was in the upper 40's and drizzly at the start, and as we weren't too far from Lake Michigan, a little breezy, too. Oh well, enough bitching, this was a great day!
I felt great when I woke up this morning. A friend of mine drove us to the race (about an hour away) and kept an eye on my daughter. It was cool to know that my daughter wanted to come to the race to see me. I can't wait til her teenage years when I embarrass the hell out of her.
As usual, it took me a couple miles to feel good. I was able to knock out some very consistant splits, mostly due to a mostly very flat course. There were a couple rollers in there and one very steep hill about a quarter of a mile from the finish- luckily it was only about 20 feet long.
It was like going up a short flight of stairs, though.
Throughout the race I stayed with the same guy about 20 feet behind him. As the race went on, I was thinking to myself how I would pick this guy off the last couple of miles. Also, as we went along, I could see a woman from my friend Laura's running team further ahead and fading. Each mile I got closer and closer to her. At the 9 mile mark or so, the guy I had been following passed her and found some other gear and took off. I talked to him later and he said he was taking it easy and really put the hammer down for a strong finish.
I caught up to the woman around 10 and stayed with her til about 12. About then, we turned a corner and I saw her look out the corner of her eye at me. That was it. She picked up her pace and I never could gain on her. I finished 10 seconds or so behind her. We talked for a while afterwards and I recognized her as a pretty well known and successful local racer.
There were no photographers out on the course, but my daughter took one of me as I neared the finish line. I'll have to get it developed (I'm still in the stone ages without a digital camera) and post it.
The stats:
28/140 overall
26/81 males
4/9 age group (no medal- and the third overall was in my group)
One last note: The sun came out and warmed up nicely during the awards ceremony.
And I went with shorts and a long sleeve technical shirt.:p
Park2Park Half-Marathon Race Report
Linear Mode
