Race Report - Livestrong Half Marathon

The LIVELONG LIVESTRONG Half Marathon was yesterday. It was for a good cause so I am not going to complain too much. I woke up and hit the road at 5:30am so I could get there in time to pick up my race packet and eat my PB&J before the race started at 7am. On my way it started sprinkling a little bit, I thought it was just one of our typical Florida showers. Boy was I wrong.

I stopped at CVS and got a poncho just in case....but it seemed to be clearing up so I just left it the car. It wasn't raining until about 2 minutes before 7am, which is when the down pour began. I was mostly concerned that my iPhone would be ruined, so rather then wearing my elastic band on the outside of my clothes I wore it on the inside to hopefully protect my phone a little bit more. The phone was fine, but the side of my waist where a little piece of Velcro rubbed my skin raw is not.

Anyway...I my goal for this race was to finish in less than 2 hours, which would be a new PR and to practice pacing myself so I am ready for my next marathon in a few weeks. Well...I was unsuccessful at both. I started out the race at a super fast pace, thinking if I ran faster I would get out of the rain. Obviously that didn't work. The hard rain continued for about 30 minutes and then was off an on for the rest of the race. Either way I was totally soaked and miserable. Since I was pushing my pace so much at the beginning I was also completely spent my mile 9.

I knew at about mile 9 that I was not going to be able to finish in less than 2 hours. It would be close, but I was in no condition to make up 6 minutes in 4 miles. There were not too many spectators because it was such a small race, but Ryan was waiting at the corner for me when I reached the home stretch into Gulfstream Park. I told him to bring the camera so I could get pictures to post....he took a few pictures, but they are so horrible I deleted them immediately.

I finished in 2:06: 31, 7th in my age group and 118th overall.

Even though I was not happy with the way I raced, It made me realize that I really need to start slow at my marathon in a few weeks. I don't think I could have finished a full marathon yesterday if I had to. I definitely don't want to put myself in that situation at the Marine Corps Marathon. I plan in keeping a very slow pace to start out the race, so I can finish strong and actually enjoy all of the sights and spectator support.