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NIRCA Half Marathon

April 5, 2025 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 60's; HUMID

Comments:
Oh golly. What a day. Got into hotel at midnight last night and was up at 5 for a quick warmup jog, drove to Dorey Park, checked in, got some massage gun and rolling in to get rid of last aches and pains in L knee. MRun had 2 other runners participating, one of whom was doing this as her long run. The other was Ian, with whom I ran for the first 4 or so miles. Splits are listed below, but broad strokes were that considering this was my first Half (as a race), I was not married to any particular goal time. Just wanted to finish somewhere around or under 90 mins. I figured starting out around 7 min pace was reasonable, and I could chip away over time. First 4ish left me energized, plenty of people to pass. Course was really odd – out and back first 1.7ish, then this trail adjacent to a road for the rest, then uphill last few miles before the finish. I started to open up between miles 4 and 5, then settled into low 6s and high 5s by halfway. Turnaround just before 8, then I ran into some tummy pains for the last 5 miles but powered through. Did some mental math around the hour mark, and realized that I was much closer to sub-80 than initially thought. Told myself I should just go for it, and there were a few more folks to pass before the last uphill stretch. Crossed the finish line with barely any energy left, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, next time I should go out faster to ensure I don't have to do as much catch-up in the latter half. Can't teach an old dog new tricks, though...

Splits
6:46
6:32
6:19
6:19
6:18
6:17
6:13
6:14
5:58
5:59
5:33
5:36
5:28
~23sec

Roughly 28:20-28:25 for the last 8k, which would have been a PR in Cross (but no course would ever be this flat).

Cooled down and b-lined it to the...um...facilities. Then headed to Richmond with my parents for my mom's birthday! Beautiful day, warmed up nicely and once I wasn't running, the humidity wasn't so god awful.

No clue where exactly I landed in the race order, but I do know that I was only ~2 mins off from the 10th fastest Mrunner's Half. Will hopefully sleep early tonight and recuperate before 5k and 800 tomorrow!