Monday, June 05, 2006
South Pfaltz Half-marathon Race Report
This morning I ran my eighth half-marathon, the South Pfalz HM, as a training run. My wife wanted to visit with a former coworker she used to work with (Eva) who lived in the same town as the event so I decided to run the HM instead of my normal 14K/8.7M that I had on the schedule.
The race started at 9:15 a.m. so we picked up our friend Eva on the way the race. I went to pick up my start number and the girls picked up coffee and found a place to park until while I ran.
After going through the normal race routine I made my way to the Start line to cheer on the 10K racers who started at 9 a.m.. It was just beginning to rain a little as we began the race, but lasted only a couple minutes, then the sun came out again.
There were around 400 people signed up for the HM, I recognized a lot of faces from previous races. I chatted with a man who has run the Fidelitas Night Run for the last 10 years in the row. He assured me that the race is easier than a marathon. This is relative as he is a running machine.
So after a few minutes we were off. I held down the pace for the first 14K/8.7M, about my normal tempo run speed (5:30/K, 8:50/M).
I love this race, it is flat, almost entirely through the forest and probably 70% packed dirt trails. I set my HM personal record (1:48:12) on this course last September.
At the 14K point was an aid station and right after this a 5 minute stretch of asphalt-covered bike trails. I had been following a couple who were doing a comfortable pace and at this point they poured on the gas. I decided to hang with them for awhile. They kept going faster and faster and I guess my competitive juices started flowing, cause next thing I new I totally forgot about this being “just a training run” and I left them behind me.
For the rest of the race I kept up the pace passing a couple dozen people before sprinting over the finish line. I ended up finishing in 1:49:39, about a minute and a half slower than my best time, but much faster than I planned.
I came in 235th out of 378, 53/76 in my age group. Not bad for braking the first 2/3 of the race. I just hope my legs will forgive me...
The race started at 9:15 a.m. so we picked up our friend Eva on the way the race. I went to pick up my start number and the girls picked up coffee and found a place to park until while I ran.
After going through the normal race routine I made my way to the Start line to cheer on the 10K racers who started at 9 a.m.. It was just beginning to rain a little as we began the race, but lasted only a couple minutes, then the sun came out again.
There were around 400 people signed up for the HM, I recognized a lot of faces from previous races. I chatted with a man who has run the Fidelitas Night Run for the last 10 years in the row. He assured me that the race is easier than a marathon. This is relative as he is a running machine.
So after a few minutes we were off. I held down the pace for the first 14K/8.7M, about my normal tempo run speed (5:30/K, 8:50/M).
I love this race, it is flat, almost entirely through the forest and probably 70% packed dirt trails. I set my HM personal record (1:48:12) on this course last September.
At the 14K point was an aid station and right after this a 5 minute stretch of asphalt-covered bike trails. I had been following a couple who were doing a comfortable pace and at this point they poured on the gas. I decided to hang with them for awhile. They kept going faster and faster and I guess my competitive juices started flowing, cause next thing I new I totally forgot about this being “just a training run” and I left them behind me.
For the rest of the race I kept up the pace passing a couple dozen people before sprinting over the finish line. I ended up finishing in 1:49:39, about a minute and a half slower than my best time, but much faster than I planned.
I came in 235th out of 378, 53/76 in my age group. Not bad for braking the first 2/3 of the race. I just hope my legs will forgive me...
# posted by Jack : 4:57 PM
Comments:
<< Home
So easy to lose track of what you should be doing when you're a competitive spirit! Great job, even though it wasn't planned.
It sounds like you are becoming a running machine as well. Sounds like a great half-marathon course.
Post a Comment
<< Home
