2007 Mount Carmel Fitness Challenge 1/2 Marathon

For the last three years, I've trained for fall marathons. In both marathons, my first half time was under two hours (9:09 per mile), yet for some reason, I've been unable to run a half marathon in that time.

That changed on Monday.

I hadn't run any races since beginning my marathon training; my last race was a 5K in May. I did set a personal best in that race, but I wasn't sure how much that meant for 13 mile distance. So, I came into Monday's race feeling good about my training, but unsure about where I stood in running at a goal pace.

The race began at a local high school, and started out with a downhill stretch. I kept a fairly fast pace for the first couple miles, and hit the first turnaround well ahead of my target. However, we soon had to climb back up the hill, and I gave back about 20 seconds in that mile.

Passing the school again, we headed down the other side of the hill. I managed to run something close to a 7:30 minute pace during this mile, which almost certainly is my best mile in any race longer than a 5K. Again, we had a climb after the downhill stretch, but this time I managed to keep my pace around 9:00, which meant I didn't lose any time to my goal. During this mile, I began passing people who had slowed down on the hill.

For much of the remainder of the race, the course wound through neighborhoods with rolling hills. My pace was fairly consistent, slightly under 9 minutes per mile. I continued passing people, especially in water stops, where many people stopped or walked. During this section, I was doing math in my head to figure out what time I would need to reach certain miles to give myself a good chance to break my time, and gained some confidence when I continually hit the targets. I hit mile 10 under 1:30, and I was fairly sure I would break two hours, barring a complete collapse or injury.

Finally, we turned onto a bike path for most of the last two miles or so. It was a nice change of pace, and was mostly shaded. Emerging from the path onto the sidewalk, we had one last tough climb up to the school. I kept telling myself that this was why I run sprints, and to just keep my legs moving. I caught one last person near the crest of the hill. We coasted down across the school parking lot, and around the track one time to the finish line. I saw Meredith on the way into the stadium, and could happily raise a fist, knowing that I was going to break my goal by quite a bit. I was surprised to see just how much, as I came across the line in 1:52:30.

The rule of thumb I've heard for a marathon is to take your half-marathon time, double it, and add 10 minutes. That would get me across the line in 3:54, so I'll cross my fingers and keep training for that four hour goal!