National Half Marathon

March 29th, 2008

Just realized I’d never gotten around to posting this. So, the disappointment that was the National Half Marathon this year.

A year earlier I ran the race, had an extra quarter mile tacked on by accident, and finished with a 1:58:17. This year? Two minutes slower, but without the added distance. So what happened? A few things. I hadn’t trained as well, something I knew going into the day. My longest run beforehand was a 10-miler, and looking back to the previous year (as well as this year’s splits) having a 12-miler under my belt really had helped. (I felt soon after hitting marker 10 like I’d run out of gas.) A mistake I won’t make again. In general, though, I just wasn’t feeling as excited about the race, and that can be a bad thing.

It’s also worth noting that this year’s course was much steeper than last year’s for the half-marathon. That climb up through mile 8? It wiped me out, and then once I hit new distance (as you’ll see below) everything just sort of crashed and burned. There was also some self-sabotage going on with what I can best term "bad math." I remember finishing mile 11, seeing the split, and thinking it was impossible to stay under 2 hours. Well, that wasn’t really the case at that point, but it certainly seemed like it. And I am sure that given a mental defeat, my body followed along rather stupidly.

(I’m also kicking myself for needing a minute long bathroom break during mile 3. Had I just peed in the parking lot right beforehand like I’d contemplated, at least being sub-2:00 probably would’ve been in the bag. Oh well.)

Live and learn, live and learn. And hey, it wasn’t a personal best, but I did finish and it was faster than my 2006 time. I’m really glad I ran it.

Mileage Mile Times Total Time Overall Pace Elevation
1 09:27.7 0:09:28 0:09:28
2 08:47.1 0:18:15 0:09:07
3 09:38.9 0:27:54 0:09:18
4 08:30.2 0:36:24 0:09:06
5 09:00.3 0:45:24 0:09:05
6 09:18.7 0:54:43 0:09:07
7 09:25.4 1:04:08 0:09:10
8 08:57.7 1:13:06 0:09:08
9 08:58.5 1:22:04 0:09:07
10 08:55.3 1:31:00 0:09:06
11 09:20.4 1:40:20 0:09:07
12 09:45.3 1:50:05 0:09:10
13.1 10:11.9 2:00:17 0:09:11

Bleah on the percentile drop this year, though. THAT is humiliating, considering I shifted into a new age group. *sigh*

2006: 133/156 (85th percentile) (30-39M)
2007: 117/212 (55th percentile) (30-34M)
2008: 154/226 (68th percentile) (35-39M)

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