I have written up a Boston race report, but it is on my computer which is currently unavailable at my brother's house, so I will just have to post about the Hurricane Half, first.
It was a good race. The forecast called for rain, which was crazy because it had been so nice all week, but lately, all races we are doing have rain in the forecast. I really didn't know what to expect running a race 12 days after Boston. My legs felt good, but I just didn't know if my body had recovered at all.
I took it easy the week and a half between the two races. To be honest, I don't remember what I did. The Saturday before I did 6.5 miles at a 8:13 pace and it felt pretty good. My legs were definitley fatigued by the end, but they weren't rubber. I also did a short track workout the Wednesday before (4x400 at 1:26-1:27). They felt good.
So the rain started at about 3:30 am the day of the race. I woke up to and thought, oh great a whole 13.1 miles in pouring rain. but by the time I awoke at 5:00, the rain had stopped. The weather turned out to be ideal: overcast, mild temps in the low 60s and nice clean air without pollens floating around to agravate my allergies.
The race began at 6:30, with a bus ride at 5:40. I am not used to the early morning runs yet, but it wasn't too bad.
I wore shorts, tank, and arm warmers. Perfect choices. No gloves or ear warmers needed.
I started the race with a couple of friends. Carol wanted to run around 1:45. I wanted to beat her because I barely beat her last year after she had just run Boston. she and I have friendly competitions every race we do together. She is 45 and has 5 or 6 kids, but is amazing. It makes me feel super strong if I can beat her. Shelly wanted to stick with me as long as she could in her debut half. She is going to try to qualify for Boston at the St. George Marathon this year. She was really fast in college but has had triplets since then and is just getting back into competing. I stuck with them for a while but slowly gained a bit of ground on them.
My first few miles were good, under 8 minute pace. I had a few slow miles our of Virgin, but picked up the pace back down the La Verkin twist.I realized I was not going to make my very optimistic goal of 1:40, but decided to keep trying for under 1:45. My IT band was a bit tight, but I just kept trying to keep my miles under 8. No woman passed me the entire race. One passed me, but I passed her right back. I passed two that repassed me.
The last mile, I really tried to pick up the pace. I passed a few guys that made comments (nice ones) and I just kept going. The last 100 yds onto the high school track were fun. One of the guys I passed decided he didn't want to let me beat him, so he starts sprinting. As soon as I realize what he is doing I pick it up. I am surprised I had that much left in me, but I catch back up to him and I think I outleaned him at the line, but that is debateable.
I finished in 1:42:23, a 3-minute PR over last year. The course was a little short this year, but I will still take it. I was very happy and now will work toward 1:37 (eeeek!) at the Bryce Half in July.
Here are a bunch of our running buddies that did the race.
No comments:
Post a Comment