2008 Huntsville Half Marathon
Huntsville, AL
November 8, 2008
Official Results
This race was the the third PR attempt in the 5 star PR series that I had been chasing this fall. So far I was 2 for 2 on setting personal records, but had missed by goal time in both races. For this race, I was shooting for:
Half Marathon in Huntsville (Nov 8)
Old PR: 1:23:13 (Set in 2007 at the Huntsville Half Marathon)
Target Time: 1:18:59
Actual Time: -
Going into this race I had joked that I was going to go out hard and hang on. This seems to be my strategy of late and surprisingly, it has worked. My late stage drop off has been only slight, or negligible and I have been able to his some very fast time for me. I felt like my training had been going great, including averaging 95 miles a week for the previous 6 weeks. Plus I took a mini-taper day of rest on Friday, so I was hoping there would be some spring in my step.
I went out hard, running 5:40 pace for the first mile and leading Jason Reneau and George Dewitt well into the mile. I was still on the outside of the top 10 looking in. Miles two and three were almost identical as we ran through the winding neighborhoods. I had warmed up and tossed my gloves along the way and had locked into a nice running rhythm. When passing the church at the 5k mark, I had gained a few spots and was running in a small pack of 4 runners.
We made our way along on the out and back, running through the 'hilly' part of the course. I was feeling good and noticed that the runner I was closest too was slowing on the hill climb. I kept my pace in the low 5:40's and pushed ahead of him. In this same section, I also passed Donald Bowman, who had passed me early in the race. I was then running in 5th place overall, behind just George and Jason, who were still visible.
In the 5th mile, I passed by the aid station without taking anything. I am not sure this is significant, but I was feeling good and wanted to just keep cranking out the miles. I had been consistent on 2:47-2:53 1/2 mile splits. We turned down Chaney Thompson and ran south. I was not running with anyone, but was chasing down George, which gave me motivation to push harder. This did not mean running faster splits, but meant not falling off the pace by much.
Miles 6, 7 and 8 along Green Cove and up the Aldridge Creek Greenway were very consistent at 5:47 pace. It was in this section that I really started to over think my race. I felt early on that I was running over my head and ability and now with only 5 miles left in the race, I was thinking that I would fail late, end up walking and it would be a replay of last year when I stopped at the last aid station and slowed significantly after that.
I had taken two energy chews in mile 7 and by the cone turn around at 8, they started to kick in. Plus on the out and back section, is when I knew that I would start to see who was behind me, how close they were and assess the situation. I saw Donald, and David Purinton and Brett Addington close and a few others. The thing that I never accounted for was the tens to hundrends of folks who I either knew, who knew me, or were just nice people that cheered me on. I am not naive to think that hundreds of people know me, but on this day, as they shouted words of encouragement, it felt like they did. This helped to carry me through miles 8, 9 and 10 still cranking out 5:50's. Plus I think that I surprised a lot of people who saw the position that I was holding in the race, including several who never thought I would be running stride for stride and less than 30 seconds behind George. I am very thankful for this little blessing in disguise; it was the secret of my race time.
I went through mile 10 at 58:10, which was 6:40 faster than my old 10 mile PR. I felt like I was running effortlessly. I started to think about what Dink Taylor and Marty Clarke had been saying all along; that it is possible to run the half marathon course faster paced than the 15k which I had just run at 6 minute-miles. I was well ahead of that pace and was now starting to think about running much faster than the 1:18:59 goal I had set.
Turning back onto CT, there was only 5k left and I was now going to start racing. I pushed forward hard, running the next two miles on the toughest part of the course, which was either slightly uphill, or into the wind. What had helped me race through this section with ease came weeks earlier when Marty and I had done a 20 miler from the church. We came back through Chaney and toward the church after running 7 minute miles for 18, and I dropped the pace running 6:15 and 5:55 for the last two miles, which coincided with the last two miles of the half marathon. I needed this for a meant reassurance that I could overcome last years breakdown.
When running up the hills to mile 12, I recalled this training run with Marty and it helped to push me along. With 1 mile to go, I realized that I had a chance to break 1:17:00, which I never thought possible. I kept making a push to catch George, but could just not close the gap; even if we had more miles to go, he probably would have kept the same distance ahead of me. I ran a 5:43 last mile, coming into the finish line at 1:16:38. I was 30 seconds behind George, which I found out later on.
I mingled around the finish line, and then walked back to congratulate the other runners who were coming in now. Many others had great performances as I did not hear from a single person who had a bad day. A few of these people were training partners so it was even more rewarding to see them finish strong.
As a manner of tracking my race performance and where I am at, I look around me to see how I finish compared to others. Since early 2007 when I started racing in Huntsville, this 'person' has changed many times from Joe Francica, to Dink Taylor, to Marty Clarke. This was the first time that I had ever beaten Donald; I do not know if this was a fluke race on my part or not, but for now, he will be the new person that I look to in judging how well I raced on that given day. I know that he was sick coming in to this race, but I had finished about 2 minutes ahead of him. I really look forward to the day where we can both be healthy and truly battle (kidding) in a race. He is a great runner and has been for a long time. It feels pretty good to be in his class.
I had lowered my PR from 1:23:13 to 1:16:38 on this great racing day and had also finished ahead of my goal time by more than two minutes. I am ready for the last two races in the 5 star series.
Results
01 Paul Guevara, 22 - 1:07:56
02 David Riddle, 27 - 1:08:11
03 Jason Reneau, 32 - 1:15:29
04 George Dewitt, 50 - 1:16:16
05 Eric Charette, 32 - 1:16:38
06 Donald Bowman, 41 - 1:18:39
07 David Purinton, 40 - 1:19:05
08 Patrick Cooper, 25 - 1:19:15
09 Owen Bradley, 29 - 1:19:18
10 Eric Legros, 39 - 1:19:52