This was my biggest race before the Eugene Marathon in May.  This half would give me a good gauge of my fitness level and let me know how my training was going.  Therefore, I was a little more nervous for this race than most of my races.  I wanted everything to go perfectly, so when my Forerunner 405 decided to freeze on me the day before the race, I had to scramble a bit.  Luckily, I held onto my 205 and I felt somewhat relieved.  The 205, which is much bigger, may have cost me a second or two, but it gave me peace of mind knowing my mile splits.

 

The conditions for the race were pretty good.  It was about 40 degrees and sunny.  The only problem was the wind, which was steady at about 15-20 mph.  The course did a loop around downtown Morehead before crossing the bridge to Atlantic Beach, following the beach for about 3 miles, and then turning around and heading back to the start.  Therefore, the wind was a factor for only about half the race.  Unfortunately, I had to battle it from miles 8 to 11.5.  There was only one real hill, the bridge from Morehead to Atl. Beach.  It was a quarter mile long and pretty steep.  I was able to smoke 6 people going over the bridge.  I guess beach runners abhor hill repeats.

 

My plan was to hold a 6:58-7:00 min. pace for the first 8 miles and then kick up the pace if I felt good.  I had to really concentrate to keep from going out too fast.  I was able to keep my pace at around 6:56 for the first 8 miles and felt good.  However, after the turn at Atl. Beach, the wind slowed me down and it was not until the last 2 miles that I was able to speed up to a 6:35 pace.  I finished strong with a new PR by over 5 minutes in 90:22. 

 

I was very pleased with my performance.  I am on track to run well in Eugene.  I was disappointed by not placing in my age division.  Unfortunatey for me, 30-34 was the most competitive age division by far.  Even though I finished as the 10th overall male, I was 4th in my age group!  I guess that is how it goes sometimes.  It was a great race.