Notes
Half Marathon with my cousin at Half Day Forrest Preserve in Vernon Hills/Lincolinshire. I have never ran a half before and only ran 13.1 miles less than 5 times total in my life so I wasnt really sure how this would go. I had a few soft goals in mind before the race. #1 was to run somewhere between 1 hour 20 and 145 and the other one was to finish in the top 10 which I thought was attainable based off last years results but at the same time the same ppl from last year might not be in it this year so that goal was more a loose goal and something that would determine itself once the race started.
Got out nice and conserative from the gun started in the front but kind of let all the eager starters go in front of me and picked them off until I was in a group I felt was right for me to run with. Grouped up with 2 guys who if i had to guess were in their Mid 30's and together we were in 3rd 4th and 5th place. The leader bolted out from the start and we knew right away he was gunna destroy the field and the 2nd place guy tried to run with him and everyone knew it was a matter of time before he died becasue he did not look like a serious runner at all and it just had that this guy is an idiot feel to it. So the three of us stuck together for the 1st 5 miles or so. I hung on the back of them and let them do most of the work to be honest. They really didnt seem to mind. At one point I heard them say there goal was under 130 so I figuered that was an attainable time for me. Had to stop twice to tie my shoe which sucked but I was able to catch back up to them ok. at about 5 and a half they picked it up and I went with them for a minute or 2 but then backed off a that felt a little too fast too early for me. Was by myself for about 1 and a half miles unti I caught up to those to at the halfway turnaround poitn.So we were together again for another mile or so when one guy said he had to stop and shit in the woods and the other guy took off so it was back to running solo. At this part I slowed down significantly and everything just hit me still was running at an ok pace but I could not move as fast as I wanted to got passed by 2 guys then another guy was comming up wiht me and I decided to go with him. We got a good pace going until the 11 mile mark or so when he picked it up and i grabbed some water on the run but his surge was too fast so I kept him in my distnace and tried working up to him never did catch him but was able to chase him down to about a 3 second gap which was pretty good I thought.
Ended up running 1:40:00 and finished in 9th place which was was pretty good considering Ive never raced a half and the race was in the trails with a few big hills so for sure would have been faster on regular flat ground but overall pretty content with this a good confidence builder going into the marathon. Not sure if I will run 3:20 pace as the pace for the half indicates but I feel like I got a better feel for pacing and how to attack longer races. Really liked the half distance and would for sure do one again