Holiday Halfathon race in Madeira Beach this morning.
A little bit
warm but not too bad. I wasn't sure how it would turn out for a few reasons - I have often done worse than expected on this course, I should have picked the grilled fish with a side of potatoes instead of lobsters pasta (alfredo sauce), I should have gotten more sleep. Regardless, I knew that anything was possible.
Started
out at what I thought was a reasonable pace (a few seconds slower than goal pace), then backed it down a
little. Stayed pretty even and was happy to get a little faster at mile
9 when I passed a few people who I had kept in my sight. A woman named Terri was running, she pretty much usually finishes way ahead of me.
I also had reviewed my notes and the splits from the last time I ran this race and was at least mentally prepared for the sections which gave me trouble. So, when I got to those sections, instead of trying to do whatever it took to get down to goal pace, I just tried to beat my pace from last time for that section. I also noticed that the people I was running near were slowing down at the same time as me, more or less.
I'm not sure why, but was able to break out of my rut of slower and slower miles. I finally passed Terri and also finally stayed ahead of another woman who kept on passing me shortly after I would pass her.
Eudair paced
me for about a mile towards the end which really helped. After she let me go, I wasn't quite able to hold onto the faster pace. There was a guy in front of me who knew I was closing in on him so he kept ahead of me. With the final mile on a packed dirt trail I was really glad about the off road running I had done, because this section used to scare me - but not anymore!
It wasn't a PR
but it was my best time so far for this course.
Splits: 6:31, 6:33,
6:44, 6:39, 6:39, 6:47, 6:49, 6:51, 6:36, 6:48, 6:41,6:34,6:41,0.14@6:06
Nice to see a lot of friends today. Great job from Elizabeth singing the national anthem and then running.
