Pretty sweet weather for a race, with a starting temperature of 6 celsius (that's for you Cy!)

I was a bit surprised to take 2nd in my age group, but I don't feel bad about taking off after since I found out the bling will be mailed to me later anyway. I think 3rd place was only about 15-20 seconds back, so I guess he was one of the ones I dropped in the last 5k. Don't need to worry about 1st place, since he finished in 69-something.

At the start of training, I was thinking 1:23-1:24, but in the last few weeks I was thinking more like 1:24-1:25, only because of how my workouts were feeling. There were points - actually many points - where I felt that I should have been working harder. Sure, I could nitpick this thing to shreds and I think it would have been reasonable to run about 30 seconds faster today, but I'm happy with the result and have some positives to take away. The big ones are just getting out there to race a longer distance again, and I now have the confidence to go for sub-6:20 pace next time.

I did a little warmup with a guy I know, then we got into our corral and I said hi to Mo. Our race plans were slightly different, so we just decided to start out together and see what happens. We settled in behind 2 bumblebees, but I found the pace to be a bit slow after the first km. There was a mile marker which we went through in about 6:50, at which point I decided I had enough and went after the next group about 50 metres ahead. km 2 & 3 were really messed up as well, and that's when I realized that these markers weren't going to be reliable.

The course wasn't overly difficult, but it was challenging. I had only planned for 3 troublesome inclines, but there were quite a few more, the first one starting at about 3.5 km. It was just on the other side of this on an out-and-back stretch that I saw Mo, so I gave out a "Go Mo!" but I may have been just a few seconds too late for him to have heard me. My guy and the bumblebees were back with me at this point, but they attacked this hill and I didn't see them again for a long while.

I hit the 5k mat at about 19:30, which I was happy with and I thought if I can shoot for 20 min splits through 15k then see what's left I would have a good race. Another hill from 6.5 to 7, which was also the finish of my last 10k, but I wasn't booting it up this time. At 8k we got onto the bike path, and also my home turf for pretty much the remainder of the race. Really flat and scenic the next little bit and I passed a few people here. I hit the 10k marker at about 38:30, but the mat was nowhere to be seen. Weird. It came up quite a bit later. I misjudged a tight corner and ended up cutting a guy off, so at the next little hill just ahead I charged up just so I wouldn't have the embarrassment of him repassing me after I did that.

We got into Stanley Park at about 13k, and I'm still running strong, but I know the Pipeline Road hill is coming up from 15.5 to 16.5. This is also around the same place where I see my guy & the Bumblebees again in the distance. I got there, and a familiar feeling comes upon me. This same hill occurs maybe 1 km later in a different half marathon. I went over this a few times in my long runs and it was quite tame, but just the placement of this gentle but long incline in the race must have broken many. The good thing is that I survived, and took back some time charging down the backside. Tight turn at the bottom of the hill and we continue along the road, as opposed to the flat bike path around the seawall that I was accustomed to. Another little incline heading up to 18, and I catch 2 runners just before the crest, and then charge down the other side to drop them. Same story for another little hill around 19, where I was able to shake another one off. At this point I feel like I'm still running reasonably strong and I try to find another gear for a fast finish. I kept seeing those guys ahead of me during the stretch from 19 to the end and while it looked like I was gaining on them, I knew I wasn't going to catch them so I just focus on closing really strong to try to get in under 1:24. I seemed to have way too much energy kicking in to the finish, so I know I did leave some time out there, but no big deal. I think with another 500m I would have caught them.

While I wasn't really speeding up that last 5k, I was slowing down way less than everyone around me and gaining on people, so I'm taking that as a sign of a smart race. But damn 13 seconds. 1:24:12 half PR and 2:55:12 marathon PR. Super happy with the result though.

(I'm about 3 rows back on the right in this photo. Can you find me?)

(that is weird this ended up sideways. It's not like that on my screen. I'll try to fix it tomorrow if I feel like it.)

I see a Hansons runner way the hell out there, them boys get around!

Curious that Michigan does not have a RNR event, that is weird.

Question regarding your splits; what exactly is going on there?  Was the course supposed to be laid out in kilometers and you lapped your watch at those points and that is the result?

Nice racing, B-P!

Awesome job B+ and congrats on the PR!

And damn you with the celsius talk  but that is pretty sweet weather for a race. 

Dang, B+, you just keep getting faster! Great run!

You're da man B+!

 * maybe you could start calling yourself B++ *

He did that after Chicago last year, it was awesome!

I have found that, perhaps in most races longer than 10K, you don't have to be speeding up in the last couple of miles to catch folks.  You just have to be slowing down less than them and truthfully, I think that if you are speeding up, it probably means you went out too easy.  And ain't it fun picking off folks?