Ran it yesterday in a little over 2:29, which was an improvement over the 2:38+ I ran at Space Coast last November. My goal is to run the 1/2 in under 2 hrs, which I should be able to do with effective training and losing a few more pounds.
Also, I hope that by getting faster I won't be around any Gallowalkers. For the first few miles of the race yesterday there were several around me. Three in particular were very rude. They walked/ran three abreast, forcing everyone to run around them when they stopped to walk. Additionally, one of them was carrying a radio blasting music, so it was audible while passing them while they were walking, and then when they'd run I could hear it while they were approaching from behind.
Maybe because this race was a bit smaller the Gallowalkers were more noticeable. It really didn't seem to help them all that much; eventually they were all left behind.
Otherwise, this was a fun race- it's only in its second year, and there were quite a few more runners than the previous year. There was also a 5k.
Great job on the time improvement! I wonder whether the run/walkers started on a "corral" ahead of what they supposed to. Every time I race I encounter them and to me, if you're going to walk before the first 2 minutes of the race end, you should stand further back, IMO. Makes for a huge cluster pluck.
Congrats! Keep up the good work.
Damaris
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Thank you for the kind words.
That's probably true, that many of them lined up incorrectly. I wasn't that familiar with Gallowalking, so I researched it a little and saw a chart with a run/walk ratio for Gallowalking an 8 minute mile. Obviously that's much faster than my finishing time, even though I didn't walk at all. It seems like that would be extremely annoying for those running at an 8 mpm pace, having people around them stopping to walk every so often; even at my slow pace I found it annoying.
Good job, Riblah! Nice improvement over Space Coast. Got any more lined up?
You're a bit behind the times:
Sike.
Yeah that's a pretty swift mile to have to contend with if you're running slower than that. And if you're running in that soft zone, they may catch, pass, then fall behind you only to repeat it the entire race!
That sucks, but you improved on your finish time and the season hasn't even begun in earnest yet!
flarunner: Thanks! I'm thinking about the Lake Minneola Half Marathon April 20, but I haven't signed up for it.
LRB: Lol- that picture! Thanks for the encouragement.
Congratulations on a great PR! Train well and smartly and you will see that sub-2 soon! Good luck!
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Thanks, happylily!