Notes
Wow. I crushed this race! My last few races have been disappointing, so I was unsure how this half marathon would go. I figured if everything went perfectly I could do about 7:30 pace. My race plan was conservative: go out around 7:40 for the first 3 miles, then ease into 7:30 pace, then give whatever I had left for the last 3 miles.
Initially the pace felt way too easy, but I was disciplined and kept it reasonable. Susan went ahead and I let her go. Really through the first 7 or 8 miles the pace felt easy; I even had enough breath to talk. After mile 10 I wanted to pick it up to 7:20 pace, but I felt a little twinge in my left calf and was afraid of cramping, so I didn't push that hard. Mile 12 was around 7:15, and I really pushed duing the last 1.1 and ran it sub-7.
I felt great the whole race. I may have left some time on the table, but with my recent trend of going out too fast and dying, I wanted to play it conservatively, and it got me a big PR.
I did a few new things for this race that I think worked very well:
1) I walked through the water stops instead of trying to drink while running. This way I got most of the Gatorade into my mouth instead of on my shirt.
2) I took a salt pill at mile 6.7. That may have been what kept the calf cramps at bay.
Splits:
Mile 1 - 7:32
Mile 2 - 7:40
Mile 3 - 7:29
Mile 4 - 7:32
Mile 5 - 7:26
Mile 6 - 7:23
Mile 7 - 7:27
Mile 8 - 7:27
Mile 9 - 7:27
Mile 10 - 7:36
Mile 11 - 7:29
Mile 12 - 7:15
Mile 13.1 - 7:42 (6:56/mi)