I really wanted to run Chambersburg, since it's our local HM and I know the course fairly well.  I've run it about 5-6 times on long runs, so I knew it was hilly, but mostly just easy rolling hills with a couple of fairly steep climbs.  The course is rural, past snow covered fields and a few dairy farms.  There are a couple of pretty views toward the mountains. It's always a nice run.  I was supposed to do this race in 2012 as my first half, but ended up DNS with a pelvic stress fracture 5 days before the race. The next two years I couldn't run it because I was coming back from injury both years and wasn't ready to race at the beginning of March.  I finally ran a half last April in a neighboring town, and had a good race albeit with a lot of crash and burn at the end.  That has been my only attempt at a HM, thanks to timing and money issues.

I wasn't sure how I'd do today.  I'm in the middle of marathon training, so my base is better than it was last year, but because of that training, I didn't taper for this race.  Last Sunday I ran 19 miles.  I've also been battling ongoing hamstring tendonitis.  It usually behaves when I run easy, but when I try to push the pace, it acts up, so I've done almost no speed work.  Weather was a factor.  We had a snow storm on Thursday that left snow and ice in all the shady spots along the roads.  The temperature at 8:30 was around 17.  My Garmin said the average was 21 F. with 10 mph winds.  I've never run outside in temperatures that cold.  I have a treadmill, so when it gets below 28 or so, I stay inside. I had no idea how I would handle running hard in real cold.  I really stressed out about it, and ended up only sleeping for about 2 hours last night.

The cold turned out not to be much of a problem.  At the last minute, I added a layer to what I had planned, and though I was a little warm, I never got too hot. When heading into the wind, I had everything zipped up, if not, the zippers were open.  It worked.  Ice on the road wasn't as much of a problem as expected since there was usually a path that was clear -- usually the yellow line in the middle of the road.   This is a small race, so the roads were open to traffic, and there was more traffic than I expected.  The drivers seemed to be pretty patient though, and they wove their way slowly through the runners.  We did a lot of zig-zagging between the curvy road and the snow/ice. (Headphones are forbidden in this race, because of the traffic and curves.)

My goal was to finish somewhere between 2 hours and my old PB of 2:08:53. The McMillan calculator said I should be able to finish in 2:00:23, based on a very flat 10k I ran last fall, but given the lack of race specific training and no taper, I thought that was a stretch.  My plan was to start at 9:30 for the first couple of miles and increase the pace to about 9:15, and if that was comfortable, increase it again.  Of course, that isn't at all what happened. I just don't work that way.  I started out way too fast. My Garmin was hidden by layers of sleeves, and I couldn't see well anyway between running into the sun the first half of the race and watery eyes from the cold.  Still, I looked down about 1/2 mile in and saw an 8, so I slowed down, just not as much as I had intended. But that's no surprise, since I always end up running by feel in the end.  Since the course is hilly, there were easy stretches and hard ones, fast ones and slow.  By mile 5 I was afraid I was heading for another crash and burn so I took a gel after the water stop there, which helped.  I walked all the water stops (2.5, 5, 8, 10.5) and ended up walking the top of a couple of the steeper hills.  I probably could have run them--I did in training--but I badly needed the break and since everyone around me was walking, I just followed suit. The last big hill is at 9 1/2 miles, so after that I just coasted home.  It felt hard, but not 5k hard. There were a couple of people ahead of me I tried to reel in on the last mile, but I didn't have the energy at that point.  But nobody passed me at the end either.   I feel good about the race.  I did better than I expected.  I didn't fall apart at the end and was actually able to do the last two miles at 10k pace.  I got 3rd in my AG.  I don't know how many were in my AG though.

Final time per the Garmin was 2:00:50.  I think the official time was 2:00:49, but the results haven't been posted yet.

Splits were:

1  8:57 up 53'
2  9:14 up 55'
3  9:32  up 117' water break
4  8:51
5  9:07
6  9:24
7  9:03
8  9:18
9  9:23 water
10  9:16 up 47'
11  9:36  up 58, down 91'  - water break
12  8:48
13  8:47
.18  8:22

Congrats!  Well done!

You started with a sub-9:00 and finished with not one but two of them! Shit, find a flat HM and you might knock another 8 minutes off your time!

Your perseverance has paid off, you must be so happy, and so hungry; for more!

Ginny, an AG place - fantastic!!  You are definitely going to  beat 2:00 on your next attempt.

Congrats, you did a great job!!  I agree with the others, you would *crush* a flat HM course.  What a great finish you had, wow!

WTG Ginny, nicely done!

So happy for you! Awesome job. Glad the cold didn't have a negative affect in your race. Next year, you won't have to worry about it. Can't wait to hear about the sub 2:00 in your future.

Nice job in the cold, training through. Pretty solid splits considering the hills. WTG on the strong finish.