Forums >Running 101>First half marathon in a few weeks... pacing/expectation question
New addiction for me...starburst flavor jelly beans. Wife bought a bag of these home the other day and I almost killed the entire thing. I think they may be a limited time thing for Easter though. Would love to have those for a possible CIM run in December.
You will need them too, considering CIM is a hateful ultima race.
Yeah, I learned about the hatred of Ultima from all of you here. I just stuck to powerbar gel and water anyway.
Just thought I'd update since I ran a 5k yesterday... first race since last Octoberish. My time was 29:45. This was about 10:00 for mile 1, 9:30ish each for the next 2 miles, and as fast as I could towards the end. I dunno if this gives a better inkling as to what I should be aiming for in the half. I definitely could not sustain this pace for 13.1 miles of course....
You and I are very similar. I ran a 5K a couple of weeks before my 1st HM and finished in 29x. The HM was 2:27x but I've got to admit that I socialized a lot in the race by dancing with the bands, checking with a pirate spectator about the Jimmy Buffett concert the prior night, doubling back once to see if there was a blender of margaritas..... I think that you should enjoy every last second of your first HM and don't worry about the time. Once you finish, it will be a PR. You'll have lots of time in the future to improve your times. Have fun and report back about your race.
Well, I ran my race today and it went great! MilkTruck, I used your strategy of breaking the race into 6m, 10m, then final 3.1. It really helped me a lot mentally and I feel gave me such a solid strategy. They did not have km markers so I aimed for 11:30-12 minute miles. I ended up being under every single time. I pushed it to about 11 minutes for the 6-10 stretch, still feeling pretty good aside from a little foot pain. Then I tried to keep it about 10-1030 minute miles for the last 5k. I stopped really watching though at that point and just tried to get myself to the finish line as best I could. Ended up with 2:29:46 as my final race time. Extremely happy with the time, but even more so, with how strong I felt throughout, even at the end! Thanks everyone for your wisdom, it really made a difference for me
Oh yeah, the other cool thing was that the leading marathon runner passed right by me at the end.. that gave me the strength to push a little harder that last 10th of a mile
Nice work - Great race. Well done!
2017 Goals1) Run more than 231 miles2) Be ready for HM in the spring
Nice work! Sounds like you ran a great first half marathon.
I've finished at the same time as the marathon winner in a couple of half marathons I've run...I always pretend the crowd is cheering for me.