Colfax 1/2 Marathon Race Report

I got under 2 hours!!!! It's not a PR, but I am incredibly thrilled with this for several reasons: (1) I have not been able to do a 1/2 in under two hours since my very first half marathon and (2) I have gotten progressively slower times in every half-marathon (until now!). Woo Hoo! I broke my "slow streak" and got back under two hours.

The race went off without any hitches. I'd say the weather was pretty perfect. It was cold at the start and I started off in pants and a long sleeve shirt. The first 3 miles felt really easy and I was able to keep under 9 minute miles easily. For some reason, mile 4 was rough for me and I slowed down quite a bit, I think it may have been the first "hill" of the race (really it was all pretty flat- only slight inclines). Miles 5-7 flew by. I ate a bit of my Cliff shot block and had some water and felt like I got a little burst of energy. Around mile 8 I looked at my time and realized that it actually would be possible for me to PR if I really pushed it. At this point I knew I could get under two hours though and decided regardless of the PR that was what I was going for and decided to just concentrate on trying to keep a steady pace and enjoying the scenery. Miles 9-10 were nothing special. Around mile 11 my IT band started feeling really sore (which is the issue I always seem to have), so I just tried to keep the pace as close to 9 min miles as possible. The last mile was rough and I really wanted to just be at the end already, but the crowd support was great at this point and really got me through to the end. I looked at the clock as I was crossing and saw 1:59 and some change and was really happy, both to be done and to have gotten the time I was shooting for.

Here's the breakdown:
Unofficial Garmin time: 1:59:27
Official Race Time: 1:59:07

Mile 1 - 8:36
Mile 2 - 8:24
Mile 3 - 8:43
Mile 4 - 9:20 (what happened?!)
Mile 5 - 8:45
Mile 6 - 9:08
Mile 7 - 9:32
Mile 8 - 9:02
Mile 9 - 8:53
Mile 10 - 9:17
Mile 11 - 9:42
Mile 12 - 9:16
Mile 13 -8:49
Some change - 2:02

I could not be happier with the race. Now, off to finish last minute packing/cleaning and saying goodbye to friends. We drive to Cleveland tomorrow, so this will be my last Colorado post (sad).