I realized yesterday morning that I hadn't written a RR for the half I ran on Saturday, and was planning on doing it when I got home.  However, when I got home, I found out what happened in Boston and suddenly my RR didn't seem important, or even like a good idea.  I didn't think that celebrating seemed appropriate at the time.  But then the more I thought about it today, the more I realized that we should still be celebrating our achievements, our running, our lives.  We can't let what happened in Boston take that away from us.  So without further ado, here it is.

Short version:  Finished my third half in 1:29:55 and won 3rd place in my age group (35-39), 29th overall out of 690 runners.  Two sub-1:30 halfs within a month of each other, I'll take it.

Long version:

I ran my third half marathon on Saturday, the Dismal Swamp Stomp half.  I had scheduled this race as sort of a backup to the Shamrock half, just in case I didn't hit my sub-1:30 goal.  Well I hit that goal at the Shamrock, so then the pressure was off for the Swamp Stomp.  The course is a lil bit faster than Shamrock, perfectly flat, almost perfectly straight out and back course, about as fast as you can get without being point to point and downhill.  For that reason, and the expected better weather, I figured I could knock a couple of minutes off of my Shamrock PR.

But due to some poor planning on my part, that didn't happen, see the details below.  I did somehow manage to snag 3rd place in my age group, completely unexpected.  So unexpected that I didn't even find out about it until I got home later in the day and checked the results.  My 5yo also ran that day, he did the 1/2 mile Cub Run, I ran it with him and he did a great job.  He only stopped once and that was for about three or four steps and then he started running again.  Like all kids his age, he only has two speeds, sprint and walk, so the sprinting wears him out pretty quick.  But he really enjoys it.  I'm hoping that running sticks with him and becomes something he can carry with him throughout his life, but I'm going to do my best to not push it on him.  He had his first t-ball game schedule right after the race, so we had to leave as soon as we were done with the Cub Run and didn't get to stay for the results.  A friend of mine from my running club picked up my trophy for me, she said they all cheered when they heard my name (they're a great group of people and were very welcoming to me the very first time we met at a 5k in Dec).

Ok, on to the gory details.

Miles 1-3:  Holy cow did I feel fast, I was running a 6:35 pace and felt good, so I kept at it.

Miles 4-7:  Still feeling good, grouped up with a few folks and was just cruising.

Miles 7-10: This is where it starts to get ugly.  So a little before mile seven, we hit the turnaround at the halfway point.  As soon as we made the turn, bam, huge headwind.  Wait a minute, we didn't have a tailwind coming in, where the hell did this come from?  Nature can be cruel sometimes.  Pace dropped to around 7 flat, it sucked.  Finally we were back in the woods and the wind let up, tried to get back on pace, only to find that my legs just didn't have it.  This is where I should admit the mistake I made that probably cost me a PR.  For my first two halfs, I did my last long run two weeks prior to the race, and then really tapered the week of the race.  This time around, I ran a very hilly 16 miler the week before the race, big mistake.  Won't do that again.  The combination of a hard long run a week prior and then pushing through a headwind had done me in.  I figured I would just hold whatever pace I could and try to finish strong.

Miles 10-13.1: I decided that if I wasn't going to PR, I'd at least have some fun.  Since it was an out and back course, there were plenty of people still heading out to the turnaround, so I decided to start cheering for everyone going the other way.  I was clapping and yelling words of encouragement.  The funny thing was, I was motivating myself, my pace started to pick up a little, I was being my own crowd support. lol  About a half mile from the finish, I heard footsteps coming up behind me, and I told myself to try to not let them pass me.  So I started to pick it up and I heard the footsteps fade a little bit.  Good, just hold this pace to the finish, and then try to kick a little at the end.  Then the footsteps came back, faster and stronger this time, he was kicking, and I didn't have enough left to hold him off.  As he passed me, I started to slow down.  But then by that time, I was close enough to the finish that I could see the clock, and I still had a chance at going sub-1:30 again.  So I poured it on with everything I had left, which wasn't much.  All I knew was that the clock said 1:29:5x when I passed it, so I was happy.  Had no idea that would be enough for third place in my age group!

Lesson learned...respect the taper.  I think without that 16 miler only a week prior to the race, I probably would have been able to get back on pace after the headwind died down.  Live and learn.  My next half isn't until Sept, so more time to train and then hit it again, with a full taper next time.

Some pics, no official race pics yet, so just some snapshots.

Gabe sitting with Chessie, our Dismal Swamp mascot.  There are black bears in the area btw, we saw one while out walking on the trail last year, luckily he was about a 1/4 mile ahead and we gave him plenty of time to go about his business.  Luckily Chessie was the only one we saw on Saturday.

Me and Gabe running the 1/2 mile Cub Run...good thing it was only a 1/2 mile, not sure I could have run much more than that. lol

With our medals.

Swag.  Instead of a shirt, they had an awesome microfiber fleece, good stuff.

My 3rd place AG award, definitely the best trophy/medal I've gotten so far.  Hand carved and painted, each one was unique (all similar style), totally wicked.

Wow, that is some nice swag and AG award!

Excellent work, D-squared!  

"Two sub-1:30 halfs within a month of each other, I'll take it."  D2, you are freaking KILLING IT!!!! That is just great, man!  6:30 pace?!?! No big deal about the PR, you can't control the headwind. I don't think you can "feel" a tailwind, but the second you turn into it, you definitely feel that. Also, you always seem to get the nicest shirts, medals, etc... Keep up the great work, my man, you will be in Boston at some point. Cheers.

Yep.  I learned the hard way last year about tapering for a HM.  Didn't figure it mattered much and I was dead ass wrong.  I think you did a great job though of analyzing what was going on during the race and adjusting to get what you could.  Sometimes, race day doesn't go as planned or we estimate our abilities wrong or whatever.  It's easy to just cash it in and start jogging rather than pushing on and doing what you can do.  Congrats on sticking it out and cool about the AG bling.

Great job buddy.  Very cool fleece.  Head winds suck, but you were still truckin'.  Grats.

Good job Dave.  I enjoyed the RR.  Love the swag.  That carving is very cool.

Dave, congrats! The AG medal is really cool.

Congrats on a great run.  That is an awesome AG award!