Notes
Uh. Wow.
Race Report:
This was the 10th annual Parkinson's Half Marathon. Starting in Cottage Grove, I rolled out of bed around 6 and got to packet pickup around 7:10 or so. I did a short warmup jog, mostly to stay a bit warm, but it was not much. The start was a little awkward; they never played the national anthem, which isn't required, but odd, and the organizer didn't really give the intro speech that folks were expecting. It was a bit abrupt I guess, no fanfare, just "ready set go" and we're rolling. By 1/3 of a mile in, I'm pretty sure the first 5-8 people were set in their positions. A guy with a striped singlet was going to run 1:10 (ended up with a 1:11 mostly solo), then two fast guys (1:17/1:19), then a small gap to the guy I chased for about 10 miles. He ended up going at 6:20 pace, so I just dropped in and let him get progressively further away - by mile 9, he was about 40 seconds up and finished about a minute ahead. I could hear the volunteers cheering about 15 seconds after me, so I knew 6/7 would be not that far back, but it looks like they were around 6:30 pace at the end of the race.
The vast majority of the race was just chasing fourth - he was gaining, but never so much that he was completely out of reach. By mile 8, he was gone unless he blew up pretty badly, but I could still see him and was able to use him as a focus point.
Rewinding a bit - I saw something like 5:40 at one point at the bottom of the hill, which was definitely a sign to back off. I think the lead crew did the same, because we dialed back, but I didn't really feel like I lost a ton of ground from fourth. Everyone ahead of that was gone though - even on the out and back, I saw the leader around mile 5.75-6, which meant he was easily a kilometer ahead (which adds up). Ultimately, this entire race was just getting into a rhythm and then cruising. I was probably a little over-aggressive with checking my instant pace, but also, there's not that much else to look at.
The volunteers were uniformly good, which was a pleasant surprise - the aid stations were lightly attended, but also, with 80 (!!!) runners, I don't think there's any benefit to more than that. Fourth place did laugh at me thanking everyone as I was going through the aid stations, which is fair. It is weird, but I like to do it - it's boring to be a course marshal (at least, I've been bored the very few times that I've done it).
Notes:
1) The new course is as simple as can be - it's run 6.55 out and then 6.55 back. Except for the small hill right at the start and end, it's pillow flat.
2) Footing was good, but I definitely hit a few muddy-ish patches and my feet slid a touch. The tread on these shoes is pretty thrashed and wasn't aggressive to begin with, so that's mostly my fault. That said, it wasn't a problem.
3) I had a bit of soreness once I got home in my left foot, about 2/3 of the way back from the toes. I have a bit of a bump there, so I want to watch that. Outside of that, I had a bit of soreness around mile 3 in my right foot in the arches, but that faded pretty rapidly.
4) Legs felt great until around 12:30/1 (the race wrapped up around 9:30). After that, I went and laid down, which helped quite a bit. I suspect I dug a little deeper than I originally thought, but we'll see tomorrow.
5) Gear for today was the tempos, Zulu socks, Aeroready pants, light blue technical shirt, and gloves - yes, that's pants with short sleeves. I was very surprised at the temperature, since I was planning to run in a long sleeve, but after wandering a bit, I switched to short sleeves. That was a good call - I could have worn shorts as well!
6) Pre-race fueling was a bowl of frosted flakes and about a cup and a half of coffee with some water. For whatever reason, a bowl of cereal around an hour and a half in advance is perfect. I did have water at two water stops and a cup of gatorade at the turnaround (not entirely intentionally), so that was a good balance point.
7) I had more conversations with other runners before and after the race than I was anticipating - I think I chatted to at least 5 or 6 runners in the half, which is a healthy chunk of them.
8) The organization was a little sloppy for this race. Packet pickup was a little hidden and the start was weirdly muted. If I remember correctly, this was the first year for this organization crew (even if it's the tenth year of the event), so it makes sense. As an aside, the 5K was way more popular, even at 60 dollars (when I registered). [Looking at the 5k results, they had some folks only go a mile I think - the results are super strange.)
9) Fifth overall! Technically was second in my age group, but they pull out the top three (no double dip). I don't get anything for that, which is a tiny bit of a bummer, but I already don't display that many medals.
I'm really excited for Green Bay - I think this means I'm in a very good place for that race. PR in the half, first time under 1:24:00. In theory, this works out to be something in the 2:55-2:58 range for a marathon (double and add 5, which seems vaguely semi-accurate from a few datapoints).
TL;DR: This is a good race; more people should run it. And I'm very happy with today.
(Second note - according to my watch, this also includes a 10K PR of 39:17, which is not accurate, but still funny.