Half Marathon and the weekend that got away

Such a busy weekend, I am not sure where it went. Out Friday night. Saturday I went to the office for a while (but still di not get caught up) then to Toronto to stay overnight with good friends, Warren and Maureen Spitz. Warren runs Upper Canada Forest Products. I first got to know the Spitz's well when we ran the Boston Marathon together last year. I had met Warren previously though YPO.

Sunday I ran the Scotiabank half marathon. Although it started at 7 AM, I did not get home before 3 since we had to wait for the awards. Elizabeth won first in her age with a 3:18:39 Marathon. Although she was not pleased with her time, she did win. Sounds a bit like me.

The weather was perfect although it was a bit windy in places. Warren and I started the race together. We started well back in the corrals. With 6500 runners, it was shoulder to shoulder. It took almost 3 minutes to cross the start line (which is why runners speak in terms of chip time - the time to cross the start mat to the end mat. We are all equiped with RFID chips on our shoes.)

The first 5 to 7 kilometers went quickly partly because Warren and I were running and talking together. Because we started well back in the corrals, we were generally passing people. The course was generally flat with just a few hills. By 7K, I was feeling the strain of the race but not so much that I did not keep up with Warren (who was running the full marathon as a training run for Athens only which means he was running slowly for him). 7 to 12K I mostly just ran, often thinking I would just tell Warren to go on. Finally at 12K, I told him to go and slowed my pace considerably for a couple of kilometers.

Kilometers 15 to 20 were hard. I felt slowed by the wind. I stopped for each water stop and had problems picking up my pace again. At about 20K, I saw a 2 hour pace bunny (these are designated runners that pace a certain speed). Well of course I could not do more than 2 hours so I kept up.

With about 1/2 K to go, the runners were stopped for what seemed like 20 seconds but was likely only 10 or 15 to let ambulances through.

From there, I ran fast for the finish passing at least 25 runners.

I finished with a chip time of 1:58:49 which put me in the top half of the runners. Not as fast as I would have liked but I guess I would need to train harder to achieve a better place.

In races, I have 3 goals. In this case: 1 - to finish, 2 - to beat 2 hours, 3 - to beat 1:45. 2 out of 3 is not bad.