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Nothing new on race day? More like everything
new on race day! New Salming bold print shirt,
speed shorts, performance socks, Miles Lite
shoes, and a new personal record!
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I really wasn’t sure how serious to treat this race going into it. Would it be a training run or should I go for a PR?
Reasons to take it easy - I haven’t run long or fast in several weeks and not really sure what “race pace” is at the moment.
I just finished my ride around Sicily two weeks ago and I know it takes more time to fully recover from a 630 mile bike ride.
The race is in Iowa City which is 7 hours behind Sicily. I haven’t adjusted to the time change as well as I usually do which has contributed to overall fatigue.
The St. Polten Half Ironman is three weeks out, is that enough time to recover? Hmm.
Reasons to push it - this is my first race in my new age group and I’ve only run three half marathon races prior to this so my chance of a PR is fairly high.
Although this event is in it’s 35th year, it attracts far more 5K run/walkers than half marathoners which means there’s a descent chance for a guy like me to place.
This is as close to a “hometown” race as I can get and my parents will be there to cheer me on.
The weather is forecasted to be favorable.
I like to run fast.
With those factors in mind I decided to go for a PR. I haven’t pushed myself on a run or a race in quite some time and I wanted to see what I could do.
The race started at 8:30 in the morning. The course is described by the locals as “hilly” with 485 ft of climbing, but I would describe it more as “flat” by Sicilian standards. Temps were cool with overcast skies, a perfect morning for a half marathon. I was filled with race excitement of course. It’s hard to believe my last organized race was 8 months ago!
My race strategy wasn’t much of anything. I set out to run a 7:10/mile pace for the first mile and then “run by feel” from there. The first mile went by in 7:02. It’s been said many times that you shouldn’t trust the first mile but I was feeling confident and decided to continue on at that effort knowing I’d either blow up or set a PR.
Running at that pace kept me in third place for much of the race. First and second we’re about 1/8 mile ahead and fourth was losing ground on me. Somewhere around mile 3 or 4 the lead bike took a wrong turn which ended up cutting the course short by about .6 miles. It wasn’t apparent that any mistake was made until the mile markers no longer matched the distance on my watch. Everyone followed the person in front of them and I don’t think anyone actually ran the full 13.1 miles.
I caught up with second place around mile 8.5 when the course became hilly. I was thankful for all that hill training in Sicily as I felt strong. The runner now in third sprinted down the hills to catch back up with me and then fell behind on the next up hill. We continued this over 2 or 3 rolling hills and then I pulled ahead and didn’t see him again.
I finished the 12.5 miles in a time of 1:27:27, an average pace of 7:01/mile and a new PR for that distance. It was a little disappointing to come up short on the course because had that not happened, I would’ve set a true half marathon PR and probably under 7:00/min pace as I had more speed available. Regardless, it was a great race. Placing second was awesome but I know in a larger event this time is nothing special. What is special is that it’s a new PR and my dad was there to see it.
