Iron Horse Half Marathon

I signed up or this half marathon early because I wanted to support the local races and this was its first year. I didn't even think about the fact I would be running it 2 weeks after my marathon. I was really unsure if I wanted to run this race but I am a race addict so I did. I felt very unprepared for many reasons:

1. For the past 2 months I have been perfecting running a 10 minute mile for the 26.2

2. I barely ran the week after my marathon and it was awkward and slow

3. This weekend was crazy busy!

I was so blah about the whole race I did not do anything to prepare. I had a girl I know go get my packet and didn't even go pick it up from her house. The night before I ate a huge Mexican meal and threw out some random running clothes. I rode up with a Lisa (my chiropractor's wife) and we decided we would try to run together. I was hoping to maintain a 9:00 minute mile and she is more like a 8:00 minute mile runner. It was a small crowd of under a 1,000 so it was not too hard to get out of the pack. We did our first mile in 8:15.... uh oh am I going out to fast? I decided what the heck lets see what you got! I can run 8:00 minute miles at shorter distances (3-6 miles) but have never been able to maintain anything better than a 9 something on the longer distances. Well Lisa and I just chatted it up and were at mile 6 in a flash. Every mile was 8:33, 8:45, 8:38! What the heck? On top of that it was a hilly course! It was never flat for more than a few minutes. But we just kept on trucking. At mile 11 we went up one last big hill and Lisa pulled ahead of me. Going down the hill I knew she was going to fly so I let her go. But I told myself not to pull back too much. When I looked at my watch going into the last 3 tenths I was running 7:45! Sweet! The clock was 1:53:00 even when I finished but I still waiting on my official chip time. Should be a minute or two faster. My last half back in March was a 2:32!

*Official time 1:52:11; 9th in age group, 8:34 pace!

Overall it was a great run! Chilly start (low 40s) but turned out to be a great morning. Plenty of water, great volunteers, nice country course with a lot of scenery. You would have to train for hills to be ready for it but I think I will run it again next year.