Thanks jOS! 1:25 for a half! Boom!
Ran my OS goal race today, a local inaugural half marathon. I've been all over the place lately with training. I've been hitting my numbers but have been pretty beat up. So per the wiki I took it easy this week, and felt pretty fresh this morning. I had a good showing a couple weeks back at a 10k (ran 1.5 minute faster in the 2nd 5k), so my endurance still seems good. But I'll be honest, I had my doubts going into a half marathon. Plus this will be the first longer race I've done on a modified (when I'm good) paleo diet. My Vdot said a 1.25.30 was possible, so I set my watch pacer to 6:32 miles, used the Force, and got to work. I have an active imagination when I race, I love Star Wars, so let's go old school nerd here.
Per the wiki I took it easier than usual on the first 3. Course was a lot more rolling than I anticipated. By that I mean it never relented. Much like the Evil Empire had an endless army of Storm Troopers, this race had an endless supply of rollers. Ignored pace going up, and rolled back down with gravity. I felt pretty good until I saw the 3rd mile split. The Star Wars scene came to mind when Luke gets excited for knocking out his first enemy fighter, and Hans yells back "DONT GET TOO COCKY KID". In my head the third mile was Coach P channeling Harrison Ford to smack me around for getting cocky.
| 06:31.0 |
| 06:29.9 |
| 06:49.9 |
Settled in for the middle miles. Nothing fancy here. Steadily picking people off. I like half marathons, but the middle miles are boring and kinda hurt. You have to do them, but does anyone actually enjoy them? Kinda like the watching the "New" Star Wars. I mean, come on, everybody loves a good light saber fight. But is it really necessary to beat me over the head by giving everyone and their intergalactic cousin a light saber? Lucas, you can't give everyone in town a light saber and expect them to call you back the next day. Respect yourself!! Come on!!
| 06:23.8 |
| 06:37.1 |
| 06:18.3 |
| 06:37.6 |
Mile 8 was a bit fast. The guy I was chasing kept looking back, and I was steadily closing. He got a little ricky racer back with me, but we still had 5 miles to go. And he was breathing way too hard this early trying to fight me off. "I found his lack of faith disturbing" and pressed on. Shortly after that I missed the turnaround and kept going. Star Wars would have been a lot shorter had Obi-Wan just shoved Anakin in the river of fire, and done us all a favor by punishing Anakin for his terrible acting. Thankfully ricky racer was kind enough not to shove me in the river as well, yelled at me to turn around, and I got back on course without too much lost time.
| 06:23.4 |
| 06:22.2 |
| 06:30.5 |
Once I missed the turnaround, I got pissed and went for it. I really wanted a 1:25. None of this "Well I ran 1:26 but went long blah blah business". I hit the last 3 hard. I just wanted to make the final trench run, blow the death star via the exhaust port, and go home to hang out with my hologram buddies.
| 06:20.4 |
| 06:25.6 |
| 06:11.9 |
Rolled through the finish officially at 1:25:30. Won my AG and was 7th overall. I think given a flatter course with less turns, I was in 1:24:XX shape. Hard to run the tangents with so many out-and-backs and a crowd. I'll eat crow for my previous remarks. I'm in great half marathon shape. Diet worked great. I ran a 1:27:30 to finish my season off last November, and that was a much, much harder effort. If you're still reading, thanks 
My legs are tired, I can't get up, so I just started typing. I appreciate all the support this group has given me, it's really been nice.
Now it's time to load the full iron plan for CdA and get back to work. After a few celebratory beers tonight of course And maybe watch Episode IV again.
Comments
Nice work! Another speedy EN runner. I say Cda (no bust).
Nice work! Another speedy EN runner. I say Cda (no bust).