New Bedford Half Marathon Race Report

Photo from southcoasttoday.com
1:10:20, 17th place
Results: http://coolrunning.com/results/08/ma/Mar16_31stNe_1_set1.shtml

Good race overall. Going into the race I felt I could run anywhere between 1:10-1:12. My recent races were pointing towards a 1:12. Last year I ran a PR of 1:10:00 after running pretty well all winter. The first couple of miles felt pretty good, but the I was laboring on the hill before 3 miles. When we made the hard left towards the downhill stretch at 3.5 miles I was hanging off the back of the lead pack. I ran with Ethan Hemphill for a mile as we tried to reel in the stragglers ahead of us. I felt strong but I just didn't have the leg speed to go with Ethan when he made a break. I kept the hammer down and caught my former UNH teammate Steve Meinelt around 5 miles. I said "Tempo day Steve?" He replied with "Yeah". Not sure what that meant but I never saw him after that. I was starting to feel a little sluggish at 8. Two BAA guys caught me at 9 which was a blessing in disguise. We worked together for a couple of miles in the brutal wind that always shows up on this section of the course. At 11 miles Mark LaRosa gapped me, but I kept the hammer down. At this point I knew that I only had 2 miles left and that I could still possibly PR. Oh yeah, I forgot about the nasty long hill from 12-13. On the hill I passed a laboring Eric Blake. From there I worked it hard to the finish. It was probably the best sprint I've had in a while. I am pretty happy with my race considering that most of the guys I was racing are in the middle of their Boston Marathon prep. I'm just now starting my real base phase for Mt. Washington. I was also happy with the way I raced. It was the most focused I have felt in a race in a while.

Splits:
1=5:24
2=5:21
3=5:17
4=5:20
5=5:02 26:26
6=5:08
7=5:12
8=5:13
9=5:32
10=5:29 53:04
11=5:30
12=5:34
13.1=6:11

While my winter races were decent this year, I didn't enjoy getting my butt kicked. I followed the Foxboro 10 Miler with weeks of 75 miles, 53 miles plus skiing, and a 17 mile week to prep for Ski to the Clouds. This week I was shot out of a canon and managed to get in 103 miles. This week was the first time I've ever hit the century mark and my first time over 90 miles since March of 2006. So far I'm feeling pretty good. I'm planning on getting 5 more weeks of 100 miles before I start focusing on workouts for Mt. Washington.