New Milford 8 Mile Road Race…very glad I finally ran this. One of the area’s iconic races (44^th running and CT’s 3^rd oldest race), and I’ve wanted to run it since we moved here 5 years ago. Has to be an old race, because no one who wanted to build a returning customer base for this thing would design it the way it is today – with a ridiculous hill at the end (check my log for the elevation profile, it’s nasty).

Anyway, this was a good wakeup call in my half-marathon training for how not to pace and how not to hydrate. In the end, my time was okay, but I could have run a much smarter (and probably faster) race.

My workout Wed was supposed to be to dial in race pace, so ran a fartlek with what were supposed to be 3 half mile 6:20’s. I ran them all way too fast (2:45 or so). Very hard for me to get the feel of the in-between pace. I can run a 5:50 and I can run a 6:50, but nailing in-between is an issue.

Anyway, was feeling great in the first mile, pretty comfortable…and then the girl giving splits at mile one said “5:38”…and I felt panic. Holy crap. That’s not good. And was unsettled from there on out. Looking back at the splits now, they kind of make sense, given the course.

1. 5:38
2. 11:50
3. 18:24
4. 24:45
5. 31:30
6. 37:30 (I think)
7. 45:30 (I think)
8. 51:37

That slow mile up to 7 is the crazy hill.

The other big lesson from today was my hydration management. It sucked. Yes, it was warm today, but there were 8 water stations on a 8 mile course, plenty of opportunity to fill up. And I tried, I just wasn’t very good at drinking from the cup at that pace. Something I need to practice. Both calves seized up right after mile 6 (actually right when Beat – another RA guy – passed me). So the last 2 miles were an unnecessarily painful struggle.

So, encouraging for my HM goal in 9 weeks, but plenty to learn from. Great day. Lots of fun. They have a guy playing a fiddle as you slog up the big hill and a big fat smiley face painted on the road at the top.

Onward.

H2: great job on the race. that hill looks like a killer! not sure I could have walked it let alone ran it...