First half marathon completed (Read 401 times)

I finished my first Half this saturday and felt great after the run. I wish to thank all the wonderful people on these forums who have responded to my training questions. JK, willamona, Marcus, Mr Inertia, Kimmie, Figbash, Jim24315, Tchuck and others who I might be forgetting at the moment. I am not much of a writer so here is a brief summary of my race. Charlotte Racefest is a small half marathon and 10 K with about 1200 Half Marathoners and maybe about 800 10 K runners. The course is rolling with steady climb the first 3 miles, and a net downhill the next 4 miles. It gets a bit more undulating in the second half. With the trees begining to green and with all the dogwoods, azaleas, and a few cherrys still in bloom, it was a beautiful course. It was about 60 degrees with threats of rain at the start. Apart from a slight drizzle at the start, the rain held off for the duration of the race. This is near perfect racing conditions for me. I started about 3/4 of the way back from the start line. I was toying with the idea of following the 10 min galloway pacers, but it was a good thing that there was no 10 min pace group. I started out a very comfortable pace and was passed by a few rabbits, after about a mile I was holding my place and not many people were passing me and I began to pass some of those who sprinted past me at the begining. After the first 3 miles, only 4-5 people passed me the rest of the way and I passed atleast a 100 runners in the second half when the course turned a bit hilly. I even had a bit of a kick, the final half mile where I passed a bunch of runners, but a very fast girl sprinted past me in the final 5 meters which kind of was a bummer. If I had heard her a few seconds earlier I would have tried digging deeper. My goal at the begining of the run was 2:05 - 2:10. My final chip time was 2:05:23, so pleased that it was at the top end of my goal. I think I ran a bit too conservatively, this being my first Half marathon and not slowed down much on the small hills in the later stages. I think I could have run maybe about 2-3 minutes faster if I knew what to expect of the course. Here are my approximate splits which are kind of all over the place, because of the longish hills on parts of the couse. Mile - Time - Couse (best I can remember) 1 - 9:44 - Flat to downhill, a bit congested 2 - 10:13 - Slight steady Uphill 3 - 9:58 - Rolling 4 - 9:05 - Nice dowhill 5 - 9:40 - Uphill 6 - 9:30 - Rolling 7 - 9:03 - Long gentle down hill 8 - 10:06 - Longest uphill on the course 9 - 9:17 - Rolling 10 - 9:38 - Rolling 11 - 9:55 - Uphill 12 - 9:08 - Rolling, can feel the finish 13.1-10:06 - Kick to the end, a steep uphill .5 mile from end Thanks for reading

Well done, HM! Smart to be somewhat conservative in your first big race. Looks like you ran very smart. Congratulations on finishing at the top end of your goal time!

Awesome pace!!! WTG!!!!!!!

Good job. It was smart to be conservative for the first one. Now you can nail them!