Race Report: Olympiad Memorial Half-Marathon
February 26, 2006, Chesterfield, Missouri
It was dry and sunny but only in the low 20s for the start of the half-marathon and simultaneous 10K. Seemed like a low turnout, with definitely less than 200 total. I noticed that I hadn't seen many flyers leading up to the event and they went from going up to 7-deep in age group awards last year to now only giving hardware to the top 3 overall and top masters (40+ year-olds). "Budget cutbacks", I suppose.
As I looked around at the racers lining up, I couldn't help but notice that I didn't see many of the local elites. This could get interesting, I thought to myself.
We ran the usual route from the Snowball series — downhill at the start. Two or three guys went hard from the get-go, but it was pretty thin near the front. As we made our way to the 10K turnaround cone, we were all thinking the same thing, I'm sure. "Who is running 10K and who is running the half?" It's the question you are dying to ask but don't want to be the first one to say anything.
When I saw the two rabbits turn around at the cone, then two more, I was soon running straight past the 180 degree arrow on the road and into second place. Whoa! I took a look over my shoulder and two guys were right there. Not much later, I dropped my gel. I made a quick decision to go back for it, which put me into fourth, since those two were only yards behind at the time. I caught up with them and the three of us ran together for the next 5 miles. I held their pace for as long as I could, knowing it was my only chance at "making the podium." But at the water station around mile 8-9, one guy skipped water (the guy didn't take any the whole race!) and surged on us "hydrators." He opened a gap, the other guy closed it down, and I dropped back into 4th.
The last four miles were uneventful as I tried to keep a good pace and hoped for a little boost from my Espresso Hammer Gel. One more guy came by me to knock me down to 5th, which is where I finished the race.
Twenty-eight seconds slower than my PR and 1:11 behind the 3rd place finisher was a good result for me. I'll take it.
It was dry and sunny but only in the low 20s for the start of the half-marathon and simultaneous 10K. Seemed like a low turnout, with definitely less than 200 total. I noticed that I hadn't seen many flyers leading up to the event and they went from going up to 7-deep in age group awards last year to now only giving hardware to the top 3 overall and top masters (40+ year-olds). "Budget cutbacks", I suppose.
As I looked around at the racers lining up, I couldn't help but notice that I didn't see many of the local elites. This could get interesting, I thought to myself.
We ran the usual route from the Snowball series — downhill at the start. Two or three guys went hard from the get-go, but it was pretty thin near the front. As we made our way to the 10K turnaround cone, we were all thinking the same thing, I'm sure. "Who is running 10K and who is running the half?" It's the question you are dying to ask but don't want to be the first one to say anything.
When I saw the two rabbits turn around at the cone, then two more, I was soon running straight past the 180 degree arrow on the road and into second place. Whoa! I took a look over my shoulder and two guys were right there. Not much later, I dropped my gel. I made a quick decision to go back for it, which put me into fourth, since those two were only yards behind at the time. I caught up with them and the three of us ran together for the next 5 miles. I held their pace for as long as I could, knowing it was my only chance at "making the podium." But at the water station around mile 8-9, one guy skipped water (the guy didn't take any the whole race!) and surged on us "hydrators." He opened a gap, the other guy closed it down, and I dropped back into 4th.
The last four miles were uneventful as I tried to keep a good pace and hoped for a little boost from my Espresso Hammer Gel. One more guy came by me to knock me down to 5th, which is where I finished the race.
Twenty-eight seconds slower than my PR and 1:11 behind the 3rd place finisher was a good result for me. I'll take it.
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