Notes
Columbus Half - 1:11:28, 17th place (16th male)
This isn't a PR but damn, I am stoked about this race. This is the first legit good half I've had since Marquette back in September 2021 and I'm proud of how I raced this.
Warmed up and felt really good and was excited to start. I think taking yesterday off helped me get my legs back under me. I hadn't been sleeping well the past couple of days (Friday into Saturday especially) so I was worried I might sabotage my race so I was happy that I had a lot of positive energy this morning.
The conditions were pretty good, temps in the upper 40's, partially cloudy, and no rain. It was a a bit windy at times (especially mile 12) but I really can't complain. I'm going to be honest, the start of this race was the most hyped and coolest start to a race I've ever done. I had coffee and two packets of extra strength run gum (100 mg of caffeine per tablet) so I was already wired. They led the elites to the start and we were allowed to warm up and what not in the starting chute. When on the line they started to blast Thunderstruck and the bass was literally shaking me, it was awesome. The mayor counted down and the race began. They set off fireworks for about 4-5 minutes after the gun went off which added to the hype.
To the race. The top half guys and some people going for the OTQ in the marathon shot off the line, they must have ran an insane time for the first mile or two because my first mile according to my watch was 5:09 and I was already significantly behind. I felt like I had to really pull it back the second mile to avoid a crash at the end and I did well settling into the 5:20's. I had a couple of guys behind or ahead of me but no one next to me. I wasn't feeling too great the first 4 miles but figured this is where the tone of the race would be set so I just pushed the thoughts out of my head. I'm glad I did because between 5-10 I felt good and was loving racing here. There were crowds of people everywhere and a few times when I was starting to tire my mind started to wander I would throw my arms up to get the crowd riled and they absolutely loved it each time. Also, as an elite, I had my full name printed in a large font on my bib and everyone said "go Will", it was sweet. According to the results I went through 15k in 50:33 and not long after I ran past the 10 mile mark in German Village around 54:19 I think. So I was having a really good race and just needed to muscle through discomfort for less than 20 minutes to end up sealing the deal. At this point I focused on catching the lead woman who until that point had been just ahead the whole race. I caught her around 11 and she started to draft off me as mile 12 was uphill and had the strongest headwind. I really started to hurt here but just had to get to the finish which I knew I could. Dug pretty deep the last mile and closed well in a 5:21 although the woman's winner absolutely blasted me here.
Really happy with this. Ran faster here than I did in 2019 which had less wind. I really would like to race another fast half because I know I could run even faster in another month or two. However, unless I traveled somewhere warmer I probably couldn't find that opportunity. I'm already doing a 10k on Thanksgiving and will likely be doing club nats in December. Maybe I'll just have to keep this motivation with me all winter to build on this momentum and run a half again next spring. I am back.