Today would be my fifth half marathon, 13.1 miles, in just 14 months. Crazy. The race is the Capital City Half Marathon, but they also had a quarter marathon and maybe a 5k. The race is held in Ohio's capital, Columbus. I stayed with my parents in Columbus, and we went out for pizza and beer Friday night. Not the smartest thing to do, but my allergies were in full swing and I felt miserable. I just wanted my head to stop ringing and my nose to stop running. I usually don't get spring allergies.
Anyway, the race was at 8am and I got to the start around 7:45am. I was running the race with a buddy and his wife, and this was their first half marathon. Up to this point, they had run a 10K race and their longest run was 10 miles in training. From day one, I told my buddy I would pace him and just help him get through it. He and I are both tall, so I figured we would easily find each other. As the start got closer and I couldn't find him, I was thinking of what to do if I have to actually "run" this thing. My runs have been decent lately, and I thinking I would go for the PR and if I blew up who cares.
About 5 minutes before the start, I spotted my buddy, his wife, and a few of their friends. This was a pretty big race, with a lot of people. We were in corral E of F. For those not familiar, racers start with racers of a similar pace. When you register for a race, they ask you for your estimated finish time and then group people together accordingly. You wouldn't want some of the fast guys running over new runners. Unfortunately, people must overestimate their times because the first mile of all races involves a lot of dodging people. Why would someone say they're faster than me, and then I pass them as they're WALKING half a mile into it? Maybe they had a last minute injury that forced them to walk, but still. All runners know what I mean. I almost want to put a time that's too fast for me, just to get ahead of some of these people. But that's not really fair either, or honest.
It took us about 10 minutes to get from Corral E to the actual start. I started my watch as we started our run. Before the race he estimated a pace of 11:00 to 12:00 minute/miles, with walk breaks here and there. He then revised that a couple days ago to 12:00 to 12:30m/m. I didn't care and just followed his lead. We would cruise along well, then walk some, then cruise along. I really enjoyed pacing him. Normally I run alone, and we just chit chatted the entire time, making jokes and talking about the old days. I wanted him and his wife to enjoy this, as the distance can be daunting for anyone, so that they're more likely to do another race and stay active. I love encouraging new runners. He was talking about joining me at the pool before work sometime. Maybe I can get another triathlete hooked!
At one point, on a slight decline, we decided to "let the ponies out" and cruised along at a 6:00m/m pace for a bit. Like I said, we had a great run. We did the same thing at the end and crossed the finish line in an official time of 2:53:24, with an overall pace of 13:15m/m. My overall place was 7364 of 8089 people, and 3223 of 3373 males, and 583 of 598 men in my age group (30-34). I actually burned more calories in this race (1,176) versus the Mini Heart Half where my time was faster and my HR was higher.
The finisher's medal for this race was very nice. This year is the 10th anniversary for the race, and the after party was better than the Columbus Full Marathon and rivals the Flying Pig. This was a great race, on a flat course on a beautiful day through Columbus.
Not sure if this link will work to show my result details:
http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?race=1412&rid=9085
Finisher's Medal:
Here is my Strava data:
No comments:
Post a Comment