Live Centred Half Marathon

This was the first ever half marathon in the city that I live in. It was wonderful to drive less then five minutes and be at the start line. The morning was in the 50s with a slight wind. I wrote the other day that I was going to run it. When I say run it, I mean go for a new PR. The temperature was right to set a new PR.

The half marathon course was run over asphalt, dirt roads and many hills. I stuck to my race and many people passed me at the start and during the first mile. Before hitting the first mile, I was into my race pace. Before coming upon the third mile, I passed a teen boy. He wasn't keeping an even pace, so it was easy to catch up to him. After I passed the teen, an older man passed me on the left. I tried to stay close to him. I was probably ten feet away from him, when a lady passed me. She was wearing an orange shirt, so I named her "orange shirt". I didn't want to let her getaway.

After orange shirt passed me, I told myself to pick on the pace on a straight and flat section of a road. With that, I ended up passing the older guy that passed me. I knew he was right behind me, so I was determined not to let him pass me again. As I passed the guy, orange shirt was getting away. When she passed me, she kicked it into another gear. I knew there was no way I was going to catch her. The good news is, the older guy never caught back up to me. I kept him behind me for the rest of the race.

I mentioned that the course was hilly. It was a rolling hills course. My thoughts during the half were to keep a positive outlook on the hills. I knew that all of my hill interval training would help me get over all of the hills. It did. Another thing I did that made the hills not seem so bad was I only looked about ten feet in front of me. When doing that I could only see the road directly in front of me. I couldn't tell if it was hilly or not. I'm sure that method doesn't work for everyone, but it did work for me.

All of the hills didn't feel bad to me, until the last one. Of course the half marathon had to end with one of the longest inclines of the race. I knew that this hill was the only thing separating me from the finish line and a PR. I charged up the hill and looked about ten feet in front of me. Before I knew, I was up over the hill and making the final right turn into the parking lot heading towards the finish line.

When I running toward the finish line, I saw the clock. It read 1:54. I was excited to see those numbers. I knew I could beat my current PR, I increased my turnover and gave everything I could. I finished the half marathon in 1:55:18. I set a new PR by 1 minute and 35 seconds. I was so happy with myself that I set a new PR on a very hilly course. Besides setting a PR, I also placed second in my age group of 30-34.

I was happy with how I ran. I'm glad that I decided to go for a PR and not run this half marathon just as a training run for my upcoming 50K. It was a great course and I really didn't mind the hills. I will definitely run this half marathon again next year.