Week 11 - Long run (a race)
Today I ran in the LaSalle Bank Columbus Distance Classic in Columbus, OH. The distance was a half-marathon, 13.1 miles. It was my 2nd half-marathon I've run, the previous one being last September. My (lofty) goal was to sneak in under an 8:00/mi pace, and I'm happy to report that I was successful!
Here are the numbers:
- Time: 1:43:41
- Pace: 7:55/mi
- Overall Place: 387 out of 2,665
- Division Place (men 25-29): 59 out of 190
So compared to last fall's race, I cut 27 seconds off my pace, which equates to nearly 6 minutes off my time. I can live with that. I've been constantly frustrated by my inability to improve my speed, so it's nice to see some real results. I'm realizing that I'm just impatient and want the speed to come without all the work that it takes to do so. So overall, I'm happy with my performance.
The course was pretty good. We ran through the streets of downtown Columbus and around the Ohio State campus (including a lap around the outside of their stadium, the "horseshoe"). It was pretty flat for the most part, with the occasional slight incline and decline. Overall I think there were more downhill segments than uphill. The only negative was that some of the early segments of the course were narrow, which is bad since that is when people are most packed together.
As for my fellow runners, there were a lot of them. This was by far the biggest race I have run, and I was not used to the crowd. I arrived a bit late and was not able to get as far to the front as I would have liked. I think I got stuck around the 11:00/mi group sign. After the gun sounded, it took me nearly 2 minutes to cross the starting line. For the first 2 miles, I was constantly trying to dart in between people, or run around them, in order to get to the pace I wanted to be at. I started getting concerned when my first mile time was over 8:30. I know I started further back than I should have, but some of those people that were in front of me should have been well behind me at the start. There were some people that were walking by the 2nd mile! Fortunately by the 3rd mile, I passed enough people (probably close to 1,000) that I could run comfortably. Later in the race, there were a couple periods where I was totally alone, with no one within 50 yards of me. That was weird.
The fans were sparser than the Akron Marathon, but there were still a fair amount. It's always nice to see people who aren't there for anyone in particular but just want to cheer everyone on. The water/Gatorade stations were well manned and well placed (almost too many). The only complaint was that there was a gel station that had only 2 girls working at it, and I was unable to get any since the runners in front of me got some.
The post race was alright. I was excited to see that one of the sponsors, Donatos Pizza (my favorite), had pizza for the runners. I loaded up a plate with some pizza & bagels and a big bottle of gatorade and sat around for 20 minutes until I started getting cold.
Overall it was a good time and I can see myself doing it again. It made me a little worried though about my marathon-readiness since I did not feel like I had many more miles left in my legs by the end. I'm hoping to get in some 20 mile long runs these next two weekends. I need to push myself or I'm going to have a rough morning in Cincinnati.
Weekly Total: 27.1 miles
Yearly Total: 210.2 miles
Here are the numbers:
- Time: 1:43:41
- Pace: 7:55/mi
- Overall Place: 387 out of 2,665
- Division Place (men 25-29): 59 out of 190
So compared to last fall's race, I cut 27 seconds off my pace, which equates to nearly 6 minutes off my time. I can live with that. I've been constantly frustrated by my inability to improve my speed, so it's nice to see some real results. I'm realizing that I'm just impatient and want the speed to come without all the work that it takes to do so. So overall, I'm happy with my performance.
The course was pretty good. We ran through the streets of downtown Columbus and around the Ohio State campus (including a lap around the outside of their stadium, the "horseshoe"). It was pretty flat for the most part, with the occasional slight incline and decline. Overall I think there were more downhill segments than uphill. The only negative was that some of the early segments of the course were narrow, which is bad since that is when people are most packed together.
As for my fellow runners, there were a lot of them. This was by far the biggest race I have run, and I was not used to the crowd. I arrived a bit late and was not able to get as far to the front as I would have liked. I think I got stuck around the 11:00/mi group sign. After the gun sounded, it took me nearly 2 minutes to cross the starting line. For the first 2 miles, I was constantly trying to dart in between people, or run around them, in order to get to the pace I wanted to be at. I started getting concerned when my first mile time was over 8:30. I know I started further back than I should have, but some of those people that were in front of me should have been well behind me at the start. There were some people that were walking by the 2nd mile! Fortunately by the 3rd mile, I passed enough people (probably close to 1,000) that I could run comfortably. Later in the race, there were a couple periods where I was totally alone, with no one within 50 yards of me. That was weird.
The fans were sparser than the Akron Marathon, but there were still a fair amount. It's always nice to see people who aren't there for anyone in particular but just want to cheer everyone on. The water/Gatorade stations were well manned and well placed (almost too many). The only complaint was that there was a gel station that had only 2 girls working at it, and I was unable to get any since the runners in front of me got some.
The post race was alright. I was excited to see that one of the sponsors, Donatos Pizza (my favorite), had pizza for the runners. I loaded up a plate with some pizza & bagels and a big bottle of gatorade and sat around for 20 minutes until I started getting cold.
Overall it was a good time and I can see myself doing it again. It made me a little worried though about my marathon-readiness since I did not feel like I had many more miles left in my legs by the end. I'm hoping to get in some 20 mile long runs these next two weekends. I need to push myself or I'm going to have a rough morning in Cincinnati.
Weekly Total: 27.1 miles
Yearly Total: 210.2 miles
posted by Brad at 9:14 PM
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