New Bedford Half Marathon

New Bedford was the site of the New England Half Marathon Championships. CMS was sending a solid team and this was on my calendar since last November. The course is fast and the only question is what direction the wind is blowing. It was straight in our faces from 3.5 miles all the way to the ocean which is where I like to roll. Despite the head wind, I experienced my fastest mile splits at mile 5 and 6 with a 5:28 and 5:29 respectively. I had a tough mile heading into mile 9 with a 5:54 which was the slowest. Yet, I went through 10 miles 30 seconds quicker than the Amherst 10 miler three weeks ago with a 56:44 split. I focused on CMS mates Jeff Goupil and Kevin Gorman who I barely caught at mile 13. I finished 63rd overall out of 2308 runners with a net time of 1:14:15.9 or 1:14:19 gun time as I started about six rows back from the starting line.

Results

In summary, the plan was to run a pace quicker than the Amherst 10 miler and get under a time of 1:14 overall. I just missed the second objective but the 5:41 mile pace is respectable for the training that I have under my belt. CMS finished 3rd overall with Jim Johnson, Bob Wiles, and Greg Hammett running PR's. Justin Fyffe hung tough despite being under the weather and Al Bernier closed out the scoring for CMS. Kevin Tilton was right behind Al. Minutes ticked before I rolled in with Kevin Gorman in tow. I plan on some easy training over the next few days and making sure the Achilles stays happy.

The first photo above was taken by Scott Mason. Please see his awesome photos. Kristen got some footage of the race on video which can be seen on the CMS racing blog or Jim Johnson's blog. Otherwise, she got a few photos at the finish line from a distance beyond the finish line chute.