2005 Rochester Half Marathon

Well here is the scoop... I owe all of my success to my new found running pals. Without these three pushing me on distance runs, I never would have been able to perform so well yesterday. With that said, here is what happened.

I struggled to determine what pace I should shoot for in this race. My first half marathon was at High Cliff in June and I ran 1:39:26, for a Pace: 7:35 min/miles. But my long runs were only at 14-15 miles and I only did that 2x. After that I really packed in the miles (200 miles in July and 5 long runs of 18-22 miles). Then I ran an inspiring 1:02:55 (for a pace of 6:45 min/miles) at the Lake Antoine Classic 15k in early August. This race made me realize that I had a lot more potential at these greater distances than what I showed at High Cliff.

The plan that I was developed a few days before this race was based on these results. I decided that I would try to run 7:15's, and if I felt good, I thought I might be able to trim this down to 7:10''s.

So it was a crisp 58 degrees at 8am when the gun sounded. There were 500+ half marathoners and about 100 of them headed out on a sprint ahead of me. This made me a little uneasy, but I didn't let them pull me out too fast. My plan was to even pace for the first 10 miles, then turn it into a 5k race. I went out at 7:02, 6:48, and 7:32 for the first three miles. I had my GPS lapping each half mile to keep me on pace. After three miles, I felt good, so I decided that I should be shooting for the 7:10's. Then I went 6:54, 6:52, 6:59. This was about the half way point and I was running with the same group of 4 runners. The 4 of us seemed to run faster as a group, and we stepped up the pace over the next mile to 6:50. I took my GEL at mile 8, and surprisingly, two of the four in our pack stopped for water. I took this as a sign of weakness and stepped up the pace, creating separation. I kept up the pace we had built going into the water stop and ran the next two miles at 6:52, and 6:57. With this pick up in pace, I started to pick people off 1 and 2 at a time.

I jokingly talked about my plan to another runner in the early miles that I was going to go from an even pace through 10 miles, and then race the last 3.1 miles. When I hit the 10 mile marker, I felt good enough that I decided to put my plan into action. I ran a 6:54 and decided that this wasn't good enough. I had a sub 1:30:00 in mind now... I pulled off a 6:27, a 6:24, a 6:37 and then a sprint finish of 40 seconds. I passed another 5-10 runners in the last 3 miles, all of which had gone out too fast and didn't have enough left in the tank.

When I crossed the tape, I had managed a 1:29:48 over 13.1 miles for a pace of 6:51 minute/miles. This was 19-25 seconds faster per mile than my goal, and nearly 10 minutes better than my last half marathon. I managed an 18 second negative split from the first half to the second half (7:0 min/miles for first 6.5, and 6:42 for the last 6.5 miles)

Overall, I placed 52nd/500 and 4th of 17 in my age group (M25-29). So I passed about 50 runners in the last half of the race. But for the first time, I wasn't in it for the award, but in it for the PR. My intent was to see how fast I could run a half marathon) on a flat, fast course, starting at 8am) and I did it... but I didn't just do it... I ROCKED ROCHESTER!

So this leaves me in state of bewilderment! On Friday, my marathon goal was 3:40-3:45. Now that I ran a sub 1:30 half, do I adjust my time to 3:20-3:30? Maybe I was meant to be a distance runner, and not a speed demon 5k machine. I think that we will find out on October 2nd in Milwaukee... That will be the true test.

Splits
(3:33+3:29)=7:02
(3:28+3:20)=6:48
(3:41+3:51)=7:32
(3:21+3:33)=6:54
(3:27+3:25)=6:52
(3:29+3:30)=6:59
(3:23+3:27)=6:50
(3:28+3:24)=6:52
(3:31+3:26)=6:57
(3:25+3:29)=6:54
(3:14+3:13)=6:27
(2:58+3:26)=6:24
(3:19+3:18)=6:37
(1:53 for 0.28)

2005 Sherwood Half Ironman Relay

A group of friends decided to enter the Sherwood Half Ironman Triathlon as a relay team. We had won the sprint division relay last year, so we thought that this was a slam dunk.

I again ran the last leg, while my speedy friend Andrew did the bike and his speedy sister in law did the swim. My part started at about 10:25 am. It was hot, humid, and the course had some steep hill climbs, and then into a rolling trail course. This was a double loop too!

I ran mile splits of 7:49, 13:45 (2mi), 6:34, 16:16 (2mi), 7:24, 6:27, 7:57, 7:17, 17:49 (2mi), 7:54 (1.1mi). I took one 20 second stop for water and gel at 6mi, and another 20 second stop at 12mi for water.

I took my singlet off half way. We ended up finishing 1st overall relay team by 14 mins and I was 2nd fastest relay runner. Then the race director recompiled the results and we only won by 2 minutes. Oh well, it was still a win.

2005 Bellin Run 10k

2005 Bellin Run 10km in Green Bay, WI.

Got preferred starting position up front with the elites. Was ranked 180th at start. Went out to even pace at 6:20's. Started slow and ran with a girl at that pace for first 2 mi. I asked her is she could hold that pace and she said that she had only run this pace on the track and not in a road race. Then passed about 100 runners in second half of run. Overall great run. Got to see Ryan Shay, Suzy Favor Hamilton, Vanderlei Lima and John Korrir.

Finished 123/8535 and 13th in age group with a 39:26.

2005 Blarney Run

Blarney Run 5k in Wauwautosa, WI.

It was very cold and windy about 7 on strength. We drove down the night before the race and stayed at Laurie and Andrew's house. The snow was so heavy that we could not see the off ramp on the freeway, as it was under 3' of snow.

The course itself had two 180 degree turn arounds and the the first 1/4 mi and last 1/4 mile were on an icy high school track. There were about 500 runners total. THe course was mad up of rolling hills.

I started out in 2nd, fell to 3rd at 1.5 mile. Then passed by 2 people, passed into 4th, then got passed on track (snow/ice). Finished 5th and 1st in age group M25-29. Overall good race, felt like I ran about 18 min effort.