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Notes

Three Weeks to Marathon

Haunted Hustle, Part 2

Goal: Beat Maria again. Maybe 1:35?

Top 20? This looks like a small race

Whooooee! This is the second fastest half I've ever run. That's... not even a little bit what I was expecting. That's, well, that's really something for me.

Highlights:

- Mile 8 was awful. There was a water stop at the bottom of a hill, but I absolutely shattered on the hill.

Race Report of Sorts:

A) We started out at 9 AM this morning in chilly, but calm weather. Air temp was about 33, five to seven mile an hour winds.

B) I started out on the line, which was probably a little aggressive. With that said, I did finish eighth overall (and second in my age group because lol). By the first mile marker, I think I was settled somewhere in the top ten. I caught one person wearing a football jersey at mile 6 (ish - go number 27!), but outside of that, I was pretty solo.

C) Grabbed water at alternating stops, but only had a small mouthful because I didn't want to litter too much. That is something that I would recommend to the race for next year - I'd prefer the garbage cans at the water stops be a little farther away from the water stations. But that's also because I was running full tilt through them.

D) The first three and a half miles are pancake flat, but mile four is a little deceptive. There wasn't much of a hill, but it was noticeable. Speaking to hills, mile 6 to 8.33 was pretty rolling and 8 to 8.33 was brutal. I saw 8:30 pace on that hill and that almost certainly wasn't the slowest that I was going. Left knee hated that part, which made the downhill a little dicey. I'm pretty sure that was one of three miles over 7 minute pace and it was comfortably over.

E) At mile 6, two people caught up to me. I had run with one of them back at the Freeze for Food. They went by me at mile 6.5/6.8, but I stayed in contact. I went around the slower guy at 7.8 on the downhill and caught the other guy at the 8 mile mark, but then the hill crushed me hard. I stayed ahead of them for about two miles, but couldn't gap up to the second place woman. She was never that far up, but it was enough that I wasn't gaining on her. I passed the two guys for good at about mile 10, but someone blew by me at mile 10.5. He was looking great at that point and I didn't have the oomph to keep up.

F) Shortly before mile 11, we started running against the 10K route for about half a mile. That wasn't ideal - it wasn't completely obvious which side of the cones we needed to be running on. Since there was only one lane, it was also a little narrow. And then as we dropped back onto the bike path, we had to cross the 10k course. That wasn't too bad, but it's a little dicey.

G) I lost a tenth of a mile somewhere, since I had 13 on the nose at the finish line.

H) The bag drop was not actually promoted anywhere, so I volunteered to run back to the car to pick up clothes and what-not. That was a reasonable plan, but it was a bit far to walk to grab stuff. My legs weren't particularly happy about that.

I) We didn't stick around very long after the race, but I did confirm that I get nothing for second in my age group. There wasn't an overall award, just age group awards. Oh well.

J) Maria and Cody both PR'ed, which is fantastic. Maria in particular is a very, very good sign, since the start was at freezing and she ran the entire way without serious issues (outside of the mile 8 hill).

EDIT, 10/31/2018: In the last three years (10/31/15 to 2018), this is the FIFTH FASTEST RUN BY PACE THAT I've done. Jeebus.