Colchester ½ Marathon

I haven’t been training specifically for a ½ marathon, but when one pops up on the schedule at a convenient time for a $3 race fee, you sort of HAVE to do it. My focus the last couple of months has been on the Lake Placid Ironman, my first Ironman race and not specifically on running. Of course, I’ve been running a lot, you can’t train for a triathlon without running, but my long runs are around 10 miles at this point as I’ve been slowing building up volume.

In any case, Saturday morning my brother and I headed out for the race, he having never done a ½ before, and this only my second. I didn’t know much about the course, other than the rumor that it was “somewhat hilly”. Of course, hilly turned out to be a bit of an understatement; apparently the Alps have been moved to CT. The hills were relentless, there was no flat at all, we went up and down the entire time. Matt and I ran together the whole way, and figured to try and pace steady through 10 miles, then use whatever we had left. Unfortunately, 10 miles coincided with the final 3 mile uphill to the finish. At that point, my legs were trashed from the hills, and there wasn’t much left. I tried to keep my legs turning over, but the pace was pretty slow. I’m pretty sure that anyone out for a leisurely walk would have passed me at that point. My brother pulled away a bit, and I tried to go after him, but my legs just wouldn’t move. He ended up finishing about 30 seconds ahead of me, we both came in just over 2:15. I had hoped for better, but in retrospect I feel that was a pretty good time for me for that course.

Race Results here... http://greystoneracing.net/pages/Race%20Results%202007/Colchester%20Half%202.24.07.txt

Rested on Sunday, and back to spin class this morning…