26:44
5:27 avg pace
9 miles for the Morning
Race was a good one, with near perfect weather, aside from a slight breeze in our faces on the way back into downtown. The field was good, but I noticed none of the "big guns" were there. However, I did notice a guy, Nate Harkin (I think), who had run a pretty darn good run @ the Turkey Trot, as well as being out ahead of me @ the marathon. So I knew he was fast. Another guy that I didn't know was a fast runner was Blake Culp...but I found that out by mile 2.
We started out and I was in the early lead (cool feeling), but Nate was quickly there at my side as we wound down Allen Parkway. The distances were all jacked up on the way out of downtown. They had marked the 1/2-mile point, which we crossed in THEIR time of 2:11, then hit mile 1 in 4:55...no way. I don't race w/a Garmin, so I don't know how short it really was, but no matter. During the 2nd mile, Nate was getting away, and I just focused on holding as steady as possible. Troubling though was that I could hear someone closing on me...Blake. He went by me as we made our way through the AP hills. Again, wasn't ready to TRY to put the hammer down here, so I let them go. Hit mile 2 in 9:48...again, No Way.
Mile 3 was considerably longer, but I believe it was in the right spot, as I crossed it at 15:45, and hit 5k in a PR time of 16:17. I'm not going to list it on my sidebar because I just don't trust the way the course was marked. Nonetheless, we were heading back towards downtown, Nate and Blake getting further and further from me. The way I was feeling, I was concerned about getting caught, but I just kept focusing on little landmarks along the way. The rest of the run had little fanfare, as it was just hanging on for dear life, with my closing mile coming in around 5:37 or so. Not the greatest, but a good run, and a PR for me for sure. Had it gone the extra .03 or .04 to make it 5 miles, would have been about a 30 second PR or more. I'll take that.
All in all, good run, good race, and a good experience. Now I'm going back on forth on next week's 4 the Park 4-Miler. AND, I'm taking America's Run off my side bar, as I just can't see spending that kind of money, even with a discount, on half marathon at this point. Just my thoughts on that.
ARE YOU READY!
12 years ago
Sam, the course in the first 2 miles was mismarked BIG time. when i hit mile 2, my garmin said just over 17 minutes..not. but it did correct itself at the 5k mark, as i showed about 27:19 or something like that.
ReplyDelete4 the Park. Late start (8:30), its gonna be warm and a big chance of rain. i wasnt a fan of this one last year. im saving up for Bellaire :o)
Oh and as a side note: When I hit the 2 mile mark, my Garmin said 1.91 miles.
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