Notes
Steamworks Half Marathon (Durango, CO)
1:41:54 (7:47 pace)
Overall: 21st out of 166
M 50-59: 2nd out of 8
This course is mostly flat, with one gradual hill at 3 miles and a couple gradual hills over the last 2 miles. The elevation starts at 6800 feet, gradually goes down to about 6600 feet, and then climbs back up to the finish at 6700 feet.
The first mile went very well - almost no heel pain and 7:27. After that, the Achilles gradually got worse and worse. I felt like I was still moving at 7:30 pace, but my splits were mostly in the 7:45 to 7:50 range. At 6.5 miles, the Achilles pain got to a 9 out of 10, and it felt like it was going to rupture. I tried to back off a little, but that didn't seem to help, so I just kept running and waiting for it to snap or tear or whatever it was going to do. It continued this way for the next 6 miles, and I had a couple splits just over 8:00 pace. Limped my way in with a final mile of 8:14, and I was having pain walking around afterward so we headed to the car and drove home after about 15 minutes. Pretty discouraging day, but I'm not surprised. I felt like I was too injured to run a 13-mile race, and I was right. I may be done racing now, I'm not really sure. I am making a promise to myself that I wont run any more races while nursing injuries, unless it's a very minor injury and just a local 5K. Nothing beyond that.