<--- The happy family after the race!
Well, another great race for our family! We got up at 7:30 am. The temperature was 35F and the prediction was that it would be up to 40F by race time, partial cloudy. I could not decide if I should wear sorts or long pans. Most runners had long pans on so I kept mine... In retrospect, I would have been better off without them.
For the past two days I had developed a cold, and I was a bit dehydrated. I started fast, maybe too fast: 6:54, 7:00. Then settled a bit: 7:16, 7:10, 7:13, 7:36. The course consists of two loops, and by the time I was completing the first, both wife and daughter had finished their 5K and they were lined up by the start line, very happy, showing me their awards, 2nd place for wife and 1st place for daughter!!!
In the meanwhile, I had 6.5 more miles to go. Without exaggeration, this felt like the hardest race I have ever done. The thought of stopping was going through my mind. My times had slowed: 7:36, 7:43, 7:41, 7:45.... I stopped 4 times for water (none last year). I was passed by two female runners in the last miles (always a bad sign :)) But I kept going: 7:37, 7:41, 7:42, and final 0.1m at 7:10.
<--- Finally, the ordeal is amost over! - The final stretch before the finish but without any strength to sprint to the finish line!
My final time: 1:37:47, 4/21 in my age group, 47/172 overall.
I met my goal, per previous posting, breaking 1:40. This is however the slowest of the past 3 Half marathons I have run since last May. I need a bit more work if I am going to improve last year’s times by the end of the year.
Wife finished 2nd in her age group (of 3) with 26:42, an improvement over her Fall time of 26:55.
Daughter's goal was not walk. She achieved this and also improved her previous 5K time by 5 1/2 minutes!! She finished first in her age group (out of 3) with 28:48 (previous time, less than a month ago, 34:19)
My friend Dan, had a terrific time of 1:33:30 but finished 5/10 in an exceptionally fast age group (50-54).
We all went home happy.
I am looking forward to the next race, for me: Hermes 10 miler in Cleveland Ohio, in 3 weeks.
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