Hyannis Half

My first Half Marathon, Hyannis, MA, 1:29:28. 63rd out of 1216 (gun time, 58th chip time, but who's counting :-). Pretty self satisfied for now with this first effort, even though McMillan sez I should be able to run at least a 1:25:00, according to my shorter PRs, but I haven't paid the miles yet to do that. My digestive system is less than thrilled though, that process definitely runs at a lower priority during racing. Tough but not really as hard as anticipated, could have pushed it harder in retrospect, but glad I didn't, had a good first experience. Very cold, rumors of it being cancelled due snowy/icy roads, but Hyannis sucked it up and got everything ready on time.

Crowded start, went out nice and easy, going with the flow, pass dodge pass puddle, missed the first two mile markers, but three was about 20:00 (6:40 pace), too fast for me but felt okay, the rest went down something like this - 7:15, 6:50, 7:05, 6:47, 6:56, 6:55, 6:45, 6:33, 6:43, 6:53, 0:42, nice little uphill to finish things off. Rest of the course was pretty flat, occasional gradual ups and downs. Sunny parts were nice, even enjoyed as best I could, some scenery, some nasty biting cold head wind stretches as well.

After 5 the miles just started tumbling by, grooving, feeling surprisingly good, loose, relaxed through 6, 7, 8. Kept waiting for the wheels to fall off, what's it gonna be, hams locking up, bonking, whatever, but just normal gradual increase in overall leg fatigue; hip flexors, left especially, were tightening though, pushed through, increasing the stride/pace helped. Funny how difference distances produce different fatigue signatures, shorter/faster races the hams or calves , longer/slower runs get my quads and hip flexors, wonder if that's typical or just me.

Last two miles pretty tough, but just muscle fatigue wise, brute forced it through that. Racing this distance is so different from 5K or 10K distances, it's practically a difference sport, not anaerobic at all (maybe I wasn't working hard enough), breathing almost never got labored enough to get very rhythmic, slow relaxed. All aerobic, strength, endurance. I can see why people tend toward the longer distances as they age, not as intense as the shorter races, or a different kind of intensity rather, requiring more patience, stamina.

If I can develop the patience, and if my new job isn't too demanding, I just might take to this longer distance stuff, maybe I can do the Vermont City Marathon, gotta put in the miles. The shin's holding up, a little tender, but not as much as expected, thanks, Whoever.