4/11/10 - Angie's Half Crazy Half Marathon - 1:13:07

1:13:07 (PR)
2nd Place OA
5:35 avg pace
Some of the mile marker distances were way off, but here are my splits per the mile markers:
1 - missed it
2 - 11:11
3 - 16:37 (5:27)
4 - 22:21 (5:43)
5 - 28:02 (5:41)
6 - 33:29 (5:27)
7 - 38:56 (5:27)
8 - 44:31 (5:34)
9 - 50:25 (5:54) - this had to be long
10 - 55:40 (5:15) - and this had to be short
11 - 1:01:21 (5:41)
12 - 1:05:32 (4:11) - HA!!! :-)
13 - missed it
Finish - 1:13:07

Lots to be thankful for with this run, as I'm slowly but surely finding the best formula for racing.

I went into this expecting to race 3 guys... Luis Armenteros, a guy named Kiplimo, or something like that, and Matt McCurdy. I saw their names on the entrant list and knew that I'd probably be racing for 3rd, as Matt might have been the closest to where I thought I was. Have never beat him in a race, but thought I might have the fitness to race with him today. At the start though, I never saw him, so I guess he opted out. Kip turned out to be a guy from Dallas who I knew was fast, as he and I chatted and got to know eachother a little after the race.

Luis and Kip took off from the start, and despite an early wrong turn (that allowed me to be the leader for about 400m...woo hoo!) they ran together and pushed the pace early. I started out faster than planned, but with each passing mile, I just kept telling myself "You've come this far, don't let up now." A lot of my motivation, which seemed silly at the time, was that Kip and Luis never got so far out from me that I felt like they were just destroying me. I ran alone from the start, and just kept looking up to see them. Around the half-way point, they had gotten a long way out, but I still could see them, except for rounding corners.

I pushed it through the half-way point and ran some good splits there and felt surprisingly good. Around mile 8 I was feeling like I might not make it at this pace, and began to fear coming apart. I felt totally demoralized when I saw my mile 9 time, as it wasn't until mile 10 that I realized the markers had been off, perhaps 20 seconds in either direction for 9 and 10. During 10, there was a bridge to cross as we ran through NASA, and I outloud said "just 4 more miles...2nd place looks catchable." Just trying to trick myself into running harder, ya know?

As we headed towards Bay Area, around mile 11, I saw that both 1st and 2nd were coming back to me, so I counted at the turn, and he was only 50 seconds ahead. I couldn't really "push", but really worked to hold steady, as by the mile 12 marker, he was only about 10 seconds ahead. I passed him by just before turning back into the UHCL campus, and Kip stayed right on my heels, literally for about 200m or so. I made one final push to just pick up the pace to the finish, and he didn't go with me. The push was able to be sustained, which suprised me, as I huffed and puffed my way through the campus, seeing the finish line getting closer. I actually saw Luis finish from through trees and a turn. I saw my parents at the turn to the finish, then glanced back quickly to see Kip had dropped way back from me. I rounded the corner with all I had and finished, seeing a 1:13-something on my watch. Great, great feeling.

Best run of my short running life. Good feeling to know that there is already a little bit of payoff from the increased training and such. My body and fitness have changed, and I really believe I got all out of my body that I could this day. There might be some places in the race that I could have gotten back a few seconds here and there, but hey, that's road racing. Great day. Mom and Dad were there, which really meant a lot to me, and chatted with some folks after. Talked with Kip to get to know him. He told me he's running 5 marathons in 10-weeks, and has his 5th one next weekend in OK city. Crazy. He's from Dallas, so I told him that I'd have to make a trip out there to race when I go see some family...he joked telling me "Hey man, I own Dallas." If that wasn't a challenge, I don't know what is. :-)