I wasn't as confident going into this pacing job as I would have liked. It was disheartening that running a 1:35 on an aided course was causing me concern. Felt good this morning which eased a lot of my concerns. Didn't get a chance to get any warm up miles in. I think that I am going to skip the warm up miles for half marathons from now on. Some of my best races have been when I have skipped the warm up. Race started and I did my best to keep the pace in check. The extreme donwhill at the start made this difficult. Did my best to stick to the splits on the pace band. I was within a few seconds every mile. 1:35 is kind of an odd time so I didn't have a lot of company. Ran with Rachelle and her friend for the first 3 miles than with another guy until mile 10. Other than that, I was on my own. At the 12 mile marker I somehow found myself 7 seconds behind schedule. Fortunately, the last mile had a cushion built into it. I ended up running the last mile a little too fast and finished 12 seconds before 1:35. Felt really good for the entire run (except for the hill on mile 11). Ran 3 easy miles after the race just for some bonus miles.
Loved the course. Wonder if I will think the same thing next month when I run it finish to start to finish during the Sogonapmit Marathon. | 