I PR'd by over 2 minutes and reached one of my personal goals of running a sub-90min half. That said, this one was more of a fight throughout to hold pace. Between miles 3 and 4 I got a pretty sharp side cramp that I was able to run through until it let up around mile 6. I started to fall off the pace group around mile 9 because of general fatigue ... I was just losing some steam. Grabbed some gatorade at the mile 10 aid station, took one sip and dropped the cup because my stomach said 'no way'. I was still holding solid paces between 10 and 12, but my legs were much heavier, turnover had slowed down and I was really fighting it. Finally kicked into my closing gear around 12.8 and forced myself to run until the wheels fell off (4:57 avg over the last .3)! Hit the line, saw I had broken 90 minutes according to my watch, and had a big sigh of relief.

A-goal: sub 90min, 6:52 min/mile pace
Actual: 1:29:56, 6:52 min/mile pace

All miles were below 7min expect the first which was right on 7:00.

Training consistency and focus over the past 12 weeks left room for improvement. I passed up a lot of speed work routines that may have helped. Also dealing with some foot pain from running in shoes long past their life cycle. Raced on brand new shoes that only had 4 miles (1 workout) on them ... bad planning on my part.

I was freezing during the race, which got worse when I stopped. Wrapped a space blanket around me and wandered through the recovery area. Stretched lightly, drank a lot of fluids (water, chocolate milk) and had some snacks.


Inconsistent training routine


This was a new setup for the Columbus Marathon. New start/finish lines, course changes throughout. I felt like this event did not live up to the standards that I have come to expect (and appreciate) over the previous 4 years. Case in point, when I finished, mind you behind 163 other racers, I was told that the finisher medals weren't ready yet and that nobody knew where they were. No big deal, really, but it is just an example of some of the disorganization this year. Not sure if I'll be back next year.