All Around Success - Celebrate Life Half Marathon

Sam - 3rd overall with a time of 1:17:09 - (5:53 pace)
Ro$$ - 17th overall with a time of 1:25:00 *New Updated Place* - (6:30 pace)
Gordon - 20th overall with a time of 1:26:25 *Newly Updated Place* (6:36 pace)

Summary:
If I were to summarize the performance it would be to say that we accomplished what we set out to do at the race. I, obviously, can't speak for everyone, but I would say that we were all satisfied with our respective performances on Sunday. We had differring goals heading into the race, but were each proud of our efforts, and I would also add that I was happy for Ross and Sam, as well.

Goals:
Sam had previously mentioned that he wanted to get out and be near the front, and, if he felt comfortable, push through the finish for the win. He also invited me and Ross to join in on this plan. I had entertained the idea of staying with Sam, especially after he made the post about what it would take to win the race. It seemed manageable when he described it, and, as I've posted before, I still think of myself as a much faster runner than I actually am. So, I immediately convinced myself that I would not only be capable of this, but that I would enjoy going after the win.

I'm really glad, though, that Ross nixed that plan. It gave me a reason to back out on Sam, and to run at a more suitable pace. Also, I would have certainly fallen apart in this race if I'd stayed with Sam. So, this saved me from a whole lot of late-race self-loathing and a considerable amount of pain.

Ross and I made a plan to run together for most of the race and to see how we felt at the finish. The original idea had been to start out at 7:00 pace, stick to that for 8- 9 miles, and then see what we could do for the last few miles.

Race Day:
The morning of the race we all got up tired. Apparently, I snore pretty loudly, and this was the weekend of daylight savings. I slept great, but woke up tired as I was still feeling the combined effects of Friday night and the hour that we lost.

Ross and Sam seemed to wake up in worse condition. For one, I was snoring for most of the night. And, secondly, they had to share a bed - we held a competition to see who would share a bed. The winner would get one bed to himself. The losers would have to share the other bed. Here I was going to make a joke about how the two of them had to share the bed because they couldn't beat me at anything, and then, like an idiot, I remembered that I'm writing a blog post about how they both crushed me in this half marathon.

Fortunately, this race was set up really well. Our hotel was a place called The Lodge at Rock Hill, and the start line was directly in front of the Lodge. The hotel was, also, hosting a free breakfast, and registration was in the room next to the breakfast.

We woke up somewhat late. The race was set to go off at 10:00 am, and we woke up at 7:55, but due to the great set up, we woke, dressed, and walked to breakfast, ate, registered, and were back in the room with time to spare. We didn't bother warming up much. So, we didn't have to jog down to the start line until around 9:45 - 9:50.

Sam, who was getting after it, went down in shorts, a singlet, and an undershirt. Ross and I, running more conservatively/cowardly, went in tights and fleece. The weather at the start seemed cold first, but turned out to be perfect running weather. I was skeptical and nearly added a layer but was talked out of it by Ross (who, by this count, had saved my race twice).

When the gun went off, Sam got out and put himself in good position. I dropped into what I assumed was a comfortable 7:00 pace, and looked over my shoulder to see Ross lagging behind. I allowed myself to drop back somewhat until Ross finally caught up. He, then, informed me that we were most likely running 6:15 pace. I apologized, but, in my head, doubted that we were running that fast. At mile 1 we came through at 6:13, after we had both already slowed considerably.

As Ross and I neared 7:00 pace, Sam dropped from view and remained out of sight until the race was over. For most of the rest of the run, the path followed tree-lined, backwoods roads. Good sections of the race followed a lake, which made for nice scenery. There were plenty of hills, but only a few that were all that taxing. With the good weather, it made for a great setting to have a good run.

Ross and I kept a conversation going for a solid 9 miles before any amount of discomfort set in (for me). I don't know about Ross, but having someone to talk to made it easy for me to keep clocking off miles at a decent pace. We never really slowed below 6:50 pace. Some of the miles were slower if they were uphill, but they were usually complemented by a faster downhill mile following. When I saw the pace calculator had us at 6:30 and 6:36 I wasn't surprised. It seemed like we either ran 6:30(flat mile) - 6:50(uphill) - or 6:15(downhill/end of race).

At around the 9th mile, there was a big uphill and then a big downhill. After the downhill we started to really pick up the pace to about 6:00. I kept it up for a mile, but I could tell that I wasn't going to bring the pace down any further. Ross was still feeling great at that point, and so he began picking it up right around mile 11. From mile 11 to mile 12 Ross put a little distance on me, but stayed within sight. The last mile I was out of sight from Ross, there was another big uphill and then the race finished on a long downhill. The last hill took all the sting out of my legs, and I finished strong, but without a kick. Ross put a good amount of distance on me in the last mile and managed to catch two guys that were ahead of us.

Sadly, Sam has been left out of much of this description because he was way ahead, and I don't know much about how things went except that the guy that won was out front the entire time.

Marathon Implications:
As I told Ross, I was flattered but I thought that it was silly that the people interviewed for the blog had been ranking me ahead of him. I weigh more, and I was never as good as Ross at larger distances. I was glad that I was able to stay with him for 11 miles, and I'm proud of the time I ran considering I held a conversation for most of it and it was over hills, and there are zero hills in Brooklyn that I run on.

I am still thinking 2:50 for myself, and I think that I'll be able to hang with Ross (at least) for 18 miles or so. I'm thinking that I'll start doing some 5ks (Sam's suggestion) to sharpen my 6:00 mile pace.

I feel good, though, and I'm excited about May.