We woke up early and drove down to scenic Bristol... never been south of Barrington before, nice town. The course was really nice, right along the bay in a nice little park. The weather was beautiful, about 70 with minimal humidity. My achilles was bothering me during the warm-up, and I was thinking "great this is going to be terrible." Kevin and I got towards the end of the group of about 200, poor choice. It took a while to get past the scrubs, which I guess I still am, but I am faster than those scrubs at least. Once I got in a nice pace, I really thought I could go faster but I was worried about finishing strong and not red-lining it at the end. I did the first mile in about 8:20...ok but I knew I could be going quicker. I was still nervous about not leaving gas in the tank, so I actually slowed down a little. The split at mile 2 was about 17:00. There were a number of medium-sized hills at this point, probably 4 in all, that sapped me of energy each time.
I was following this girl that was doing these intense strides before the race, that I thought was going to run like a 19 minute race. She was wearing these racing flats, that I was staring at the whole race, wondering how anyone can run any distance in them. I was thinking the whole race just stick with her and burn her if you can at the end. With about .3 miles left or so I passed her on the outside and I felt like I doubled my speed, and finished pretty strong, kicking her ass.
I was both satisfied and disappointed in the outcome of the race. I PR'd, which I guess is always good, I felt strong the whole race, and knew I could have pushed it much harder, leaving me hope for next time. My achilles also, really started to hurt at about mile 1.5 or so, and maybe that cost me some seconds as well. My time was 26:27 I think. Next time I know I can smash that thing, but part of me wishes I did it today.
As for the Half-Marathon challenges. I'm all for it, any extra motivation is always welcomed. I'm just glad Pat is on my side.
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