I haven't race a 1/2 marathon since January, so I was kind of looking forward to today's 1/2 marathon in Dallas. I'd been training a little bit in the past few months, but my longest run since July has been 10 miles (the day before Thanksgiving). So, I had no real expectations on time. I was going to run by feel.
I stayed with a friend of mine in Dallas last night. We stayed at a fancy-schmancy Fairmont (why is it that cheap hotels have free internet, but fancy hotels charge $15 -- what's up with that :) I fell asleep watchin Nebraska and OU football, but was awakend at about midnight by the guys next door -- loud music, call to front desk, knock on door, music stopped, guys must have gone out to a different bar). I think I managed a few more hours of resless sleep.
Up at 5:15 -- over to Fair Park by 6:30 for the 8AM start.
This is a new venue for the event this year - it used to be in the American Airlines Center, this year it was moved to Fair Park (where the Texas State Fair is held) Lots of people complained about parking and traffic, but I got there early, so I didn't see it.
I looked for my buddies Darin and Dave who were planning to run about the same pace as me, but never found them before the gun went off.
The weather was almost ideal. 38F, 10MPH N wind, clear skies. I wore hat, gloves, long-sleeve tech, and my optic vest, and shorts. Maybe a little over-dressed. I was wearing my Speedstars that I bought at the Boston 2008 expo (I really like those shoes for some reason).
As is usually the case when I run by feel, I ran the first mile a little fast for me, and slowed up a little bit -- I wanted to be able to finish all 13.1 miles. The whole race felt good, though I made a quick pitstop at around mile 8 that cost me about 45 seconds.
Darin and Dave passed me while I was drinking some water at about mile 11. I caught up to Darin and ran with him for a little while. Dave was about 50 yards ahead of us, so I caught up to Dave and tried to hang on his shoulder, but he spead up a little. We ended up finished within 5 seconds of each other (gun time). We all PRed! It's great to be running with 2 guys that are at my pace--and we're all getting faster, by pushing eachother.
After today's race, sub 1:30 doesn't seem too far out of the realm of possibilites---especially if I can put in more quality/quantity training.
I'll post my splits later (I'm too lazy watching football right now to get up and get my Garmin ::)
6:44, 6:54, 6:48,7:00,6:57,7:10,7:20,8:13 (pit stop),7:36,6:49,6:59,7:06,6:48, (last .1 mile 6:36) | 