Notes
Hilbert Half. Temp 71 at the start, 74 at the finish. Humidity 68% dropping to 64%. The first half was all open, sunny and getting damn hot by the 6-mile mark. I was about 54:00 at the halfway mark but chose to spend nearly 3 minutes between there and 7-mile mark drinking water, doing a gel and standing in a sprinkler. Thank god for the shade on the trail portion of the course or this would have been even uglier. Between the gel w/caffeine, the wetting down, and the shade on the trail, it revived me quite a bit. Went thru the 2-mile mark at 16:00, next 2 about 8:10. I thought I had dropped off more but if I truly went thru the half at 54:00, then I was at 8:15 at that point. That woud be disappointing as I would have run positive splits by nearly 30 seconds per mile, and I am fairly sure that didn't happen, as I was adding 8:30 to time on my watch pretty much each mile after 7 and don't think I was over. OK, guess I have to admit--I just plain don't remember my splits, and it pisses me off. Better learn how to use that function on the watch.
Sure can't say I'm happy w/the time, as it's 15 seconds per mile slower than last year, but last year was also 54 degrees. Last year I finished w/legs and breathing all over the place, pretty much at the edge. Did not do that this year but by choice. Was feeling just a bit of goosebumps maybe around 11-12 miles and did not see a point in pressing it. Looking at how much the fast runners slowed down from last year, Jamie and Todd slowed down 3%. If I take 3% off of my actual time, I ran exactly the same time as last year, not very damn encouraging. Had I not stopped at all water stops and not dallied at the halfway stop for the sprinkler, etc., would I have done better? Would I have suffered more from the heat and done worse? Could I have taken 4 seconds a mile off my time to hit my goal per McMillan? Really hard to say. I remain very unsure...guess I have to rely on a fast finish long run to let me know..