2009 Cleveland Half-Marathon

Yes, I am in fact still running. After seemingly reaching a plateau over the past couple of years, I am finally starting to see a small bit of improvement. A few weeks back, on May 17th, I ran my first half-marathon in 2 years and beat my previous best time by just under a minute, finsihing in 1:39:47. Here are my full results:

Chip Time: 1:39:47
Overall Place: 286 / 4181
Gender Place: 226 / 1813
Division Place (M30-34): 38 / 307
Pace: 7:36.6
10K Split: 46:17

Not too bad. My goal was to get in under 1:40, which I did, barely. I was discouraged in the last mile when the 3:20 marathon pace group passed me, but I managed to have a good last mile and make it in just under.

As far as the course, I ran the full Cleveland Marathon back in 2008, and while I only did the half this time, I felt the course was better. The start area was much improved over last year when there were many turns through crowded areas. Also, the wind situation did seem to be better with running west away from the lake and east near the lake, though at times there was still a stiff headwind, especially near the end when approaching downtown on the Shoreway. The finish area was also improved. I think after last year's race I said I would not run it again, but now I would actually consider running the full marathon in Cleveland again.

My next plan is to likely run the Akron Marathon at the end of September. Depending on whether or not I take it easy and run with my wife (who is considering running this as her first marathon), I may then run either Detroit or Columbus three weeks after that.