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Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon

August 1, 2009 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: Mid-upper 60's and mostly overcast

Comments:
Goal: 1:35:59 (Qualify for corral B in Chicago Marathon)
Time: 1:28:42
Place: 5/42 in division (25-29 men), 21/337 men, 24/785 overall

Splits
6:55
6:51
6:53
7:24
7:33
6:38
6:41
6:52
6:54
6:41
6:45
6:12
6:17 (5:42 pace for 1.1 miles)

Description
I had a plan for this race: run a relaxed and controlled 1:35 (7:15 pace). I didn't want to miss corral B in Chicago because I went out too hard and died. I didn't execute on the plan very well.

Because I've changed my stride significantly, I've lost my feeling for pace. As a result, I went out too hard in the first three miles. I told myself to relax and slow down to 7:15 pace. I tried that but slowed down too much and panicked a bit. My legs felt sluggish running slower and I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to hit my goal. So I took off a bit and felt much better running in the upper 6's.

Around mile 9, I started doing some math in my head. I realized that hitting my goal was all but certain and wondered if I could do something more. This is where I went really against the plan. "Slow down! But why should I slow down when I feel so good? You're right, go for it!" I decided to try to break 1:30. I knew that the last part of the course was downhill and that was going to work in my favor.

There weren't a lot of people around me, but there were a handful ahead of me that I focused on catching. With two miles to go, we hit a big downhill and I really pushed from there on out. In the last half mile, there was a group of four runners ahead of me and one with me. I pushed harder than I thought I could, caught them, and only one was able to respond and pull away from me.

The finish line was all happy runners giving each other high fives for pushing each other hard at the end. It was a lot of fun and I felt absolutely great for having gone so fast.