Boomtown Days Half-Marathon

Time: 68:55
Distance: 13.1 miles
Pace: 5:16
Place: 4th
Money: zero
Kips: 3

The half-marathon is a terrible distance. I've always heard in comparison to the marathon that "it's half as far, twice as fun." Maybe so, but it's not when you're racing. I'll probably change my mind when I try to run a time goal the next time out in the 'thon.

Meagan and I showed up to the race about an hour before the start. The winds were calm, the temperature wasn't too high and the sun was out. The legs were feeling good from what I could tell on the brief 5 min jogging sections I had as a warm up. I figured that I didn't really need to warm the body all too much as I would be able to use the first few miles to get used to the pace.

During the hour before the race I was able to spot Stephen Ariga who placed in the top 5 or 6 last year at the Brookhaven 5k. He recently ran 14:50 on the roads in Texas so I knew he was relatively fit. As the race time approached I noticed two other Kenyans jogging around in full warm-up suits. I didn't recognize these two guys but one has to assume that they are fit and would be vying for the win. (Turns out they had run Hospital Hill Run the weekend prior and placed 6th and 10th respectively. ) There were a couple other runners that looked like they could be in the mix including Jerry's Kids, but I was mostly focused on the 3 Kips.

Mile Splits:
5:19 ,
5:09 (10:29),
5:19 (15:48/16:23 at 5k),
5:13 (21:01),
4:57,
5:19 (31:18),
5:26 (36:44),
5:12 (41:57),
5:26 (47:23),
5:06 (52:30),
5:18 (57:48),
5:20 (63:09),
5:46 (68:55)

Race Recap:
(Miles 1 to 5) The gun went off and 4 Kenyans formed a group at the front, 3 of them looked legit while one was a bit pudgy. Just before the mile the pudgy one started coming back to the chase pack of white guys that I had been running with. I was really relaxed but a bit wary of spotting the Kenyans about 10 seconds so early in the race. Shortly after the first mile I went to the front of the lead pack and attempted to keep the pace honest. I didn't want to let the Kenyans get too far out in front. They were running about 20 seconds ahead of Jerry's Kids, Jason McCullough and myself. There was a big downhill into some mist followed by a slight uphill somewhere before 5k which we passed in 16:23. I pushed the pace from mile 4 to 5 and in the process ran the fastest split of the day. The 4:57 mile may have been a mistake but at the time it felt fine. I dropped Jerry's Kids but he reeled me back in over the next mile.

(Miles 6 to 9) Jerry's Kids was running great through this section while I was struggling. The terrain was rolling and I was desperately trying to find a rhythm. Up front I could see the Kenyans battling it out and was hoping they were gong to start coming back to Jerry and I. During a section along a golf course where the splits fluctuated significantly, I could see one of the Africans had fallen off the pace. Jerry continued to run about 2 steps in front of me and I was just trying to stay within striking distance. At this point I definitely had thoughts that Jerry was going to drop me at any point.

(Miles 10 to Finish) Somewhere around the 10 mile mark I started to feel good. The hills had leveled out and I was running out of room to make a move on some money. It was time to run down at least $400 in the next few miles. I was going to have to make up about 40 meters late in the race. Totally possible but it was going to require quite a bit of focus. I still felt good aerobically and the legs weren't feeling too beat up from the hills. I think the body was just a little overheated and I was on the brink of going to the well as soon as I changed gears for the final mile. I planned on saving for a kick rather than having to race from longer out. In the final mile, I made a bit of a tactical error when I charged after 3rd place, closing the gap from 20 meters to about 8 in what I thought was the final 300 meters. I knew the right hand turn was going to take us to the finish but I didn't realize that we were still over 500 meters out. I got around the turn, couldn't see the finish line, saw a little uphill climb, realized I had gone too early and then settled for 4th by 7 seconds. That's an expensive 7 seconds.

I'm not too pleased with the outcome of this race or the way how I raced my first half. The race plan was to run conservatively the first 6 miles clicking off 5:15s before knocking it down to sub 5:10s. In hindsight, I should have gone out with the leaders. If I had I think I would have run a relaxed 2 miles, been a little pressed from 3 to 6 miles, recovered from 7 to 11 when the pace lulled and then fought for the prizes. Instead, I was constantly pressing trying to catch up and hoping the leaders were going to come back. In races like this there is almost always a point in the race up front where the pace slows and strategy comes into play. I wasn't in the mix to be a part of the slowing down process. Had I been with the leaders I think I would have gained more confidence the farther we got into the race. However, I was never in contention and frustrated the last half of the run.

The positives are that Kipruto Rotich ran 66:26 at Hospital Hill and Geoffrey Kiprotich managed 68:03. Today they ran 68:01 and 68:48 for 1st and 3rd. The negatives are that I ran like a bitch.