Trailbreaker Half Marathon
the race began like all road races should, with the singing of the national anthem. as tradition would have it, the national anthem is sung by a local running community stalwart whose efforts over the years continue to be greatly appreciated.
after waiting a few extra moments for everyone to assemble we were sent off. i found myself running in a group of maybe eight runners at the front of the race. over the first mile the group was whittled down one by one until there was three of us left.
since the other two were taller than i am, i ducked in behind them and drafted for a bit. not knowing who the other two runners were made me wonder if this is one of those days that an elite runner didn’t sign up to race, which could open the door for me to slide in for the win.
by the second mile it was down to two of us and i still didn’t know if the guy i was running with was for real or not. i simply tucked in behind and waited. by the third mile he began to put a bit of a gap on me and i simply maintained my pace figuring if he faltered that i might be able to take advantage of it.
by the fourth mile we were onto the glacial drumlin trail and the gap was widening. i didn’t mind much and simply kept moving forward. my girls made it out to watch me and seemed to be a bit dazed to see me near the front of the race. heck, i was a bit surprised myself.
continuing westbound on the drumlin, the gap continued to grow between the us. i rolled through the fifth and sixth miles then before the turn around i caught a glimpse of the leader coming back east. he was moving really well with a sizable lead and shouted an encouraging “it’s all downhill from here” to me as we passed.
i rolled through the aid station and made a 180 degree turn as deftly as i could under the circumstances. heading eastbound i caught my first glympse of the individuals behind me. i didn’t have a sizable lead to bank on so no encouraging words or guestures were shared. i purposefully quickened the pace as i passed to show no sign of weakness.
heading back along the drumlin, the rest of the race participants were to my left. many shouted encouragement and i was able to spot and shout at two friends of mine. for the most part, i had to divert my eyes and remain as focused as possible on the task at hand.
by the tenth mile i was really beginning to labor but was really encouraged to see my girls again. they were a bit more lively this time around and my oldest two even ran along side of me for a short time. i gave each a high five as they faded off the pace and i continued on down the trail. shortly after running with them, i ran into another friend of mine who was watching the race from the side of the trail and i gave him a high five too which was also a lift.
heading back into the city limits, the pace really began to slow and i was paying the price for going out fast. i refused to look back to see if anyone was behind me. if i didn’t see anyone it would be too easy to ease back on the pace. if there was someone behind me, that would be a sure sign of weakness that they’d be encouraged by.
as i was nearing the final intersection crossing, i glanced at my watch for the first time and with some quick estimating i figured i had a shot at a personal record. entering frame park, i picked up the pace and shouted “track” at a few groups of folks who were using the whole path.
with a bit of a grin and a fist pump i crossed the finish line in just under 84 minutes which bettered my fastest time for the distance by 35 seconds. i collected my finishers medal and was able to briefly say hello to a friend at the finish. after a short cool down run i headed indoors to get into some dry gear.
heading into this race, i was a bit concerned about feeling sluggish from the running streak i recently completed. that said, i think there’s something about putting a numbered bib on your midsection and toeing the line that eliminated any sluggish sensation i may have had.
another fun fact about the effort was that along the way my split times for 15K, 10M and 20K were faster than my personal bests. finally, here is the link to the race photos.
Splits
1 mile 6:09 2 mile 6:08 12:17 3 mile 6:09 18:26 4 mile 6:19 24:45 5 mile 6:14 30:59 6 mile 6:27 37:26 7 mile 6:41 44:07 8 mile 6:16 50:23 9 mile 6:24 56:47 10 mile 6:30 1:03:17 11 mile 6:36 1:09:53 12 mile 6:45 1:16:38 13 mile 6:48 1:23:26 13.1 mi 0:31 1:23:57
1:23:57
2nd/460 Overall
1st Masters (40-49) classification