Half Marathon

Just a quick blog. This morning I ran the PF Chang’s Rock and Roll Half Marathon here in Phoenix. I’ve only run a race close to this distance (a 20K) once, and that was back in the first Reagan administration. For some reason I’ve been able to sustain these longer runs over the last few months (ah, sabbatical). In any case, 13.2 miles is my longest race, and probably my longest run. I was looking to finish, hoping to hit a pace of about 10 minutes a mile, and ended up just about there, finishing in 2:10:45 (which would be a world class time—in the marathon). So I’m happy.

It was coooooold today in Phoenix—lows in the mid 20’s F and temps perhaps at the mid-30s at race time. I started slow, taking it easy, and seeing how the whole thing felt. Actually ended up taking a pit stop at the portable johns at the first mile mark since they kept us standing at the start in the cold for over 45 minutes, and I had been drinking lots of coffee. But after about 6 miles or so I felt pretty good and started picking up the pace, and from then on basically ran negative splits (each mile faster than the previous). Ended up feeling really great over the last 3 miles. I’ll post pictures when I get them.

There were over 37,000 registrants for both the marathon and half-marathon today, not sure how many stayed home because of the cold, but there were tens of thousands of people out there on the course today. Runs are usually fairly festive events, but this one prides itself on its entertainment—bands (mostly rock—and if I hear “Born to be Wild” one more time….You think these bands would know another song) every other mile or so, cheering squads along the route. What I do like about road racing (and this was my first road race since….um….the second Reagan administration, perhaps the first Bush admistration) is that transgressive feeling you get running down the middle of the street (where only cars are supposed to go) ignoring all the stop signs and stoplights.

Anyway, I’m sleepy, my feet are tired, and my knees ache.
But there’s another ½ marathon down in Mesa in two months…