Notes
Indy Half Marathon.
About 12 up from the airbnb, raced, 34ish cooldown, then 25 more shakeout later in the day.
Goals and thoughts going in was that I could probably run 1:12-1:14, but didn't have too many expectations after my last two pre-marathon halves went. Figured I'd just feel it out and be a bit conservative and if I was feeling good I could close hard the last 5-6 miles. After Grandma's and general half experience it feels so good and easy the first 10-12k and then gets so much harder after that, so I sort of had that in my head going into the race.
Started behind a lot more people than normal to be next to my buds. Promised henry I'd run 5:40 pace for at least the first few miles thinking a 1:14 flat was definitely a reasonable target. We did a great job getting out together and Mark Hayes was right with us as well. First mile was a bit slow due to weaving around people but after that we settled in. Birkel formed a gap early and then Mark went up with him after about 2-3 but me and Henry just kept cranking. I felt very relaxed but knew that I had better be ready for the latter miles so I stayed patient. After 5 or so I knew I had more in the tank so I decided to squeeze the trigger a little bit and me and Henry started gaining on a big group that included birkel and mark. Caught them about 8 or 9 miles in and by then I had started to get it going. Stopped taking splits after 8 because I knew I got there in a good spot and wanted to just start racing from there on out. Didn't realize I picked it up that much but I was running sub 5:30s now and moved past the big group and caught all of the frontrunners by about 11.5. After I got him there was literally about a 300m gap between me and the next guy. I was gaining on him but he was just way too far. Just tried to keep focused and engaged and keep the pedal down, wasn't 100% spent by this point but I maintained a good clip from here on in. Wanted to make sure I broke 1:13 and it seemed a little iffy to me then so that was good motivation. Finished decently quick but felt pretty recovered just a couple minutes afterward. Jogged it back to see John finish and was happy to see he was doing well. Long cooldown after with Kels and Mike.
Overall this was a great sign for CIM. About as fast as I would have ever guessed I could run on this day and closed very fast. Last 8k was an 8k PR and so was last 10k. Feel very confident sub 2:30 is in the cards if I can keep the solid training up and get some good conditions. Also being ~3lb lighter than I have been in the last couple years helped a bit too. Great weekend with friends, everyone else pretty much kicked ass so we were a happy bunch after the race.