Notes
The legs felt pretty good this morning when I got up. Did the low end of the mileage range earlyon the previous day, so had a full 24 hours without running.
It was about 23-25 degrees at the start. I had two bottom layers, two top layers + arm warmers, two stocking caps, two pair of gloves, and my ski mask around my neck. Since the hotel was so close to the start line, I didn't wear anything to take off at the start. At about 7:45 AM, I ran for 5 minutes outside getting to the corral with around 9 minutes to the start. I positioned myself half way between the signs for the 8 minute mile and 9 minute mile.
This was my first good corral position for a half marathon. That made a big difference as I was able to get started at a decent pace and didn't have to spend energy getting past all the slower runners.
There were some hills the first 6 miles but I kept a pretty steady pace throughout.
At about the 8 mile mark, I realized I hadn't taken the GU in my pocket that I had planned for the half way point. I decided to not take it and see how I do without any fuel during the race. Had 2 power bars at 5 AM and 1 GU at 7:30 AM for the 8:00 AM race. I did feel myself tiring some the last couple miles. There's a hill around the 12th mile that takes you from along the river back into town which slowed me a bit.
Overall, I felt this was a good confidence builder that I could run steady for the full 13 miles and do it in cold weather with a lot of clothing on.