Pulled off a very successful and fun long run Saturday by running 6.5 miles before the K.C. marathon then completing the half marathon race. Got up at 4:15 am and starting running out of Ken's loft parking lot 5:15 am. Did 2 loops of the race start to downtown part of the course (very interesting running downtown at that hour as the volunteers worked to set up the course), changed shirts to my (dry) race shirt and jogged over to the 7:05 am start. Jumped in the 2:30 pace group but left them after a mile and hung with the 2:25 group which was pacing my desired 11:00 miles. They dropped me on the 2-mile uphill from mile 2 to 4, but I caught back up with them at mile 10 and finished very strong. Overall my half marathon splits were 11:31 for miles 1-4 (included a 2-mile uphill), 10:47's for miles 5-8 (downhill miles), 11:13 for miles 9-10 (another 2 mile uphill) an 11:02 for the 11th mile water stop mile, and then finished strong at 9:37 & 9:45 for the last 2 miles. 2:23:16 for the half for 10:57 average -- exactly on plan. This was a great run for me as I set out to run steady 11:00's which I did with a lot of extra capacity at the end. I'm feeling like I'm fairly well set up for the 7 week run into Dallas.
Last thoughts: loved -- absolutely loved -- the half course. Every neighborhood was interesting, the fall colors were gorgeous, 11,000 runners meant large surrounding running groups the whole race, good crowd support, live bands, beer and big expo at the finish, and Dan Gabbert yelling encouragement to me 4 times during the race (he was leap frogging the course supporting his wife's first ever half marathon) made for a very memorable morning. I feel especially blessed to live in KC on days like Saturday! Life is good.
1 comment:
Great workout, Bill. It sounds like the training is paying off.
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