Harrisburg Half Marathon

Pre-Race

This post will serve as my latest marathon update as well as a race report. This week prior to the race it was business as usual preparing for the MCM. I ran on the track Tuesday, and did 4x1200m at 6:20 pace. My training plan called for six 1200s, but since it was the first day back to school with students I cut the workout a little short. Fortunately, my wife is teaching a Pilates class at our church, so I was able to get in an hour of stretching and core work to make up for the shorter track workout. I wish I could fit more of that type of exercise into my plan. I was going to swim on Wednesday, but didn't, and pretty much took the day off. On Thursday, I did a split workout: 6 miles in the morning at 7:20 and 3 miles in the evening at 6:50. Went for a bike ride on Saturday and used my heart-rate monitor to stay aerobic.

Race Day

Got up at 5:30 a.m. and left the house by 6:15. I used the 45 minutes to get something to eat and to begin the hydration process. Arrived at City Island by 6:45, checked in, then went for a 1 mile run. I couldn't believe it, but for the first time, I had a nagging pain on the outside of my left ankle. I felt relaxed and ready to run, but was a little worried about the pain. Continued to hydrate and stepped to the line five minutes before 8:00.

My plan was to run the first half of the race at 7:30 pace and the second around 7:10. My goal was 1:36, and the Kenyan "outback" strategy seemed to be the way to go. The course, however, was very flat and after I started, I began to readjust and lowered my pace to 7:20. I was feeling good, but cautious because of the ankle and heat, and held that pace for 4 miles. I then decided to step it up a little to around 7:15. By this time, the pack was starting to stabilize. I began to focus on runners in front of me and began the methodical process of picking them off. There were only two small hills on the course, but I was able to pass clusters of runners on each of them.

At mile 8, I decided to speed up again, but I probably should have waited to mile 9 or 10. I went below a 7:00 pace, but the heat and humidity didn't allow me to maintain that and I began to fall off a little. I was worried about runners that I previously passed coming back to pass me, but they didn't. I held onto a 7:20 pace until mile 10, then a saw a group of runners who passed me early in the race. I decided to gut it out and go for them. I caught them around mile 11, and passed a female runner who was with the pack, but the two male runners were hard to pass. It wasn't long until a friend arrived: the last hill on the course. I was able to sprint up it and leave them behind. With 1 mile to go, I dropped my pace again to a sub 7:00 mile, and was able to kick it home and pass about five more runners in the process. There was one runner ahead of me with 100 yards to go, and at first, I thought I would not be able to catch him. With 50 yards to go, I decided to open it up. He heard me coming and took off. Both of us sprinted to the finish line and the winner was....me, by 2 seconds. My legs still possess a little of the fast twitch fibers from my track and field days when I ran the 100, 200 and 400.

I ran a 1:33.40, which was well below my goal of 1:36. I was 61st out 697 runners, and 9th out of 60 in my age group. Overall, I was pleased with my performance and pleased with the Furman FIRST training program to this point.

On a final note, this was the second race that I ran this summer that was sponsored by the Harrisburg "Y" and in both cases they were run very efficiently and were a pleasure to compete in.