Notes
My first goal was to beat last year's time of 1:53:04 and I accomplished that. It was very, very close, but it was still in there. I am also pleased with all my placements. I really do enjoy this race, and this was a good trip. I had been looking forward to this for a while, and it turned out to be what I expected and hoped for. Dan H. & I met Dan S. at his house Fri. afternoon, and we headed to KC in Dan S's car. Met Phil in the Hyatt Hotel lobby where we were staying. We got our packets, walked around a bit & drove the course. We ate in split shifts. I was glad we drove the course. I remembered a little from last year, but not only was the course review good, but they had changed the course to include a rather steep hill at mile 12 and I knew that would be helpful to be aware of. We hung out for a while & then got some sleep. I was getting a little jittery, but slept better than I thought I would. In the a.m., the guys went for a w/u run & I met them in the lobby afterward to head to the start. The start was organized a lot better than last year. Dan H. ran the first mile with me, Kim was there as well. Said goodbye to them & just started enjoying the run on my own. I was concerned I started too fast, but I felt pretty good and just went along. The wind going out bothered me some, but I found a couple of tall guys to run behind for the worst of it so it wasn't so bad. I'm not sure what happened at miles 6, 7 & 8. I must have lost focus or something. It was strange, that those are the only miles I remember even seeing their fancy looking flag mile marker things, and that's the same time my pace dropped off. I told myself I wasn't allowed to look at my average time till mile 8. At mile 8 I decided I could wait longer, and decided to wait to look till mile 9. At mile 9 I wanted to wait longer still so made it to 9.5. (What kind of crazy games do I play?!?! - geesh!) At that point I looked. I was disappointed to see 847. I knew I could do better, and I knew I hadn't worked that hard yet, but still I was afraid to start a push too early because I really wanted to have a strong finish, and I know I've made the mistake in the past of pushing too early. I picked it up though and it turned out to be fine so I think maybe I could have picked it up earlier, but hard to say. I was concerned about the last big hill. At mile 12.1 I noted I had 8 min. to match last year's time, and getting ready to head up the hill I noticed Garmin read 845. Well, that wasn't going to cut it. I took the hill much easier than I thought I would - even started passing people on the hill. At the top of the hill I felt really good. I knew I'd be racing the clock to try to match last year's time, but had to try so I just lit out with everything I had. It was a lot of fun! Granted, the finish to this run is phenomenal -- and downhill, so it was perfect for sprinting it all out, and since I still had it in me I figured I'd better use it. I am thrilled that my last mile of this Half was 715! That's my fastest yet, and it got me under my goal. So, since I was able to do that does that mean I was too conservative on the course? Or, did being conservative on the course allow me to do that and finish having a wonderful time? Met up with the group afterward and we got chocolate milk, flip flops & pancakes. The weather had been cloudy for most of the race, with a temp. of around 70. The sun only came out for a few min. There was a little rain, but not till we were done. The conditions were really perfect except for the little time with the wind, but at least that was at our face on the way out and not the way back. I've developed an aversion to Gu type stuff lately so I took part of a Luna Bar with me and that worked out fine. I had about 1/4 of it at mile 6. Carried my little water bottle with me the whole race again - filled w/ water at one stop and Powerade at another and I was set with that. We got cleaned up after pancakes and headed home. I had a great time with my friends, and feel very lucky to be able to have such wonderful experiences.