| Westfield Half Marathon. Fantastic run.
Had run the race four times before, best in 82:45 in 1996 (age 51), worst in 94:34 the last time I tried it in 2002. So the goals for today were beat 94, then maybe beat 7 minute pace (about 91:45), then maybe maybe beat 90. And also in the back of my mind was seeing how close I could come to Balter's time of 86+ in Brooklyn a week ago.
The legs felt good warming up. And they continued to feel good, one of those days that a slight incline feels flat and a flat feels downhill. 6:41 for the flat first mile felt comfortable, then the next 3 miles were uphill and I was astounded to be under 7 minute pace. Wasn't sure if I'b blown it by going to fast, and by miles 8 and 9 I was getting a bit leg heavy, counting down the miles slower than I wished and doing the math in my head to see how much I could slow down and still break 90. Mile 11 started with a modest up, but I got up it ok and then it was like the legs got a second windand I felt good all the way in. Got within a minute of Greg, I thought as I finished, only to find out later that he'd run 87:10 and I was only 20 seconds off. Excellent. (Note: this is all preparation for our grudge match, over a course and distance yet to be determined, when he turns 50. If I can keep my weight down to 1 G, I think I can take him.)
Splits: 6:41, 6:55 (up), 7:13 (up), 6:48 (up), 6:28 (down), 6:25 (down), 6:32, 6:31, 6:47, 6:51, 6:36, 6:35, 6:30, 38. 5 miles: 34:05, 10 miles: 67:11, last 5k: 20:19.
Legs will be trashed for a couple of days, and I might have used up my good legs for a while, but so what. |
