Mill Race Half-Marathon Recap

All things considered, I did OK yesterday and I must have run pretty hard because I'm sore today.

I spent Friday night plugging my recent 5K time in different race prediction calculators. The one I like most is HERE at www.runningforfitness.org. I put in 24:08 as my 5K time and it spit out 4 different times, ranging from 1:47:24 to 1:51:02. Basically, if I ran under 8:23 pace, I would break 1:50. This predictor spit out marathon times between 3:48:55 and 3:55:32. As with all race predictors, the longer your distance, the closer the predictor is going to be. If I put in my last half-marathon time of 1:55:45, it spit out marathon times between 3:59:16 and 4:06:43.

Anyway, I convinced myself I could try running an 8:30 pace in the morning.

It was perfect running weather in the morning. Cold enough that I needed my throw away jacket but once I started running, the temperature was perfect. The course was flat and there was shade for about 75% of the run. I would definitely run this race again.

The start though, was a cluster! There were no corrals. At the Expo, we were told there would be pace markers so people would know where to line up. Umm... so no pace markers to be found. I lined up about 100 yards behind the starting line because I thought that's where I should be. They started both the half-marathon and marathon runners at the same time. So now you have over 2800 runners who are suppose to use their judgment on where to stand behind the starting line on a street that's one lane each way.

I spent the first mile running around people walking and running at a much slower pace in front of me. I was pretty frustrated. There was even a tight turn about half mile from the start where it was so congested I had to slow to a walk. Then, my shoe came untied. I have run with my car key tied up in my shoe since I was in high school. The key is laced up behind the first lace hole so there's no chance of me losing the key unless I lose my entire shoe. My shoe has never become untied on ANY run before. I felt it was untied because I started feeling my key flopping around. I had finally cleared most of the slower people in front of me but I had to stop on the side to re-tie my shoe and then start passing everyone all over again.

All told though, the first half went pretty well except that in classic HaeWon fashion I went out too fast...

Mile 1 - 8:23
Mile 2 - 8:24
Mile 3 - 8:18, whoops, way too fast
Mile 4 - 8:31
Mile 5 - 8:25
Mile 6 - 8:21

At this point, I'm feeling really good and thought I might actually break 1:50. Then I got tired...

Mile 7 - 8:40, includes stopping to fumble with my gel and get it and some water down
Mile 8 - 8:34
Mile 9 - 8:44, I could really feel myself slowing down at this point
Mile 10 - 8:43
Mile 11 - 8:55, I was really starting to struggle to hold it together
Mile 12 - 8:51
Mile 13 - 8:43
last 0.1 - 1:29

Official finish time - 1:53:00
Average mile pace - 8:37
Overall place - 384 out of 2302
Overall female place - 82 out of 1172
40-44 female age group - 12 out of 163

My Garmin says I ran 13.18 miles. That's probably due to all the people I had to weave around during that first mile. Plus, my shoe came untied a second time during the race and I had to stop to retie it again.

Plugging this time into the race predictor I get a marathon time of between 3:53:47 and 4:00:51. So really close to my goal of 3:55 but not quite there. I have about 2 more weeks of hard training time before I start to taper. I am telling myself that people try for years to qualify for Boston so I shouldn't be disappointed if I miss in my first attempt, especially since I just decided in May to do this.

After I got done, I wanted to see the winner of the marathon finish. I found a great spot on the second floor of the parking garage where I could sit on top of a fence and look down on the finish line. I figured the winner was going to cross between 2:15 and 2:20. There were several elite runners who had come into town for the race and had PRs between 2:09 and 2:23 according to our info packets. So I waited... and waited...and waited.

Finally, over 2:30 into the race they announced that the marathon winner was coming down the street. I looked and recognized Danny Fisher in his "Quaff On" singlet. He is a local runner that runs for Quaff On Racing, a team sponsored by Big Woods Brewing Company out of Nashville, IN. I thought, "That's great! A local guy won the inaugural marathon race." I figured the Kenyan and Ethiopian elites that had come in for the race had all run the half-marathon and were already done. I then got in my car and left.

Turns out, the elites DID run the marathon. I'm assuming the three of them in this article HERE were running together as a lead pack; they got "lost" for a few miles. The bicyclist that was suppose to be leading the lead pack went the wrong way! Since Danny Fisher is a local guy, he knew the course and went the right way. Talk about controversy! I will have to say, the course was complicated. It had a bazillion turns through the whole city. I did not know the course but I always had someone to follow.

All in all, the race was great. The whole downtown area was closed off for a big "block party" afterwards that included a zip line, bungee jump, and climbing wall. All the restaurants downtown had outdoor seating and there were all kinds of other booths set up. I didn't get to stay because I had to get my daughter to "Nutcracker" rehearsal. I would definitely do this again next year. Things I would do differently...

1. Start about 10 feet behind the starting line rather than 100 yards
2. Get a "small" T-shirt rather than a "medium"
3. Have the whole day to enjoy the post-race festivities

Come join me next year!