Wednesday, March 22, 2017

New Bedford Half Marathon

I ran another edition of the New Bedford Half Marathon today. The race served as the 2nd race of the USATF New England Grand Prix Series. I car pooled with Nakri and Greg. My results summary was 176th place, chip time 1:23:15 (6:22 pace per mile), and gun time of 1:23:24. It might be a personal worst for the half marathon distance when I was considered healthy.  I ran 1:19:21 last year with similar weekly mileage.

The head wind at 9.5 miles was comical. I do not think the tail wind and head wind offset each other today but I have no excuses. Everyone had to deal with it. I expected to see some early mile splits close to six flat but I was giving 6:20’s from the get go. In the hills through 4, I just got through them to get through them. The stretch after four miles, my legs just could not get going but managed my quicker miles from 4 to 8 as expected. My head was down into the wind for miles 10 and 11. I was surprised that I managed to pass a few people from there and in the closing miles. I felt that I finished strong, lost a spot or two in the last 600m but I competed to the line.

Looking at the splits for the day, I noticed that I did not break out of the 6 minute range per mile. The splits ranged from 6:03 (mile 5) to 6:40 (last mile). The CMS teams ran very well placing 4th, 2nd, and 1st in the open, masters, and seniors divisions respectively. I closed out the day with the chowder, fish sandwich, and plenty of Polar Beverages. I caught up with competitors and CMS teammates regarding their races, results, and upcoming plans. 


1 comment:

  1. Well you'll get back to healthy again. 6:22 pace is still fast.You sure do it right. Polar beverages are great. Much, much healthier than today's runners bragging about how they drank 6 beers after the race. These will be the same runners in a few years down the road who will be complaining that their ObamaCare has them last on the list for their liver and kidney transplants.

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