spinx half marathon

i ran the spinx half this morning in downtown greenville with kt. it was a decent route i guess - hard for me to get excited about the 'sites' when i see them all the time anyway. there were some pretty good hills to tire me out, but i am mostly satisfied with my effort today.

i successfully talked myself into not-racing it and running it at goal-pace instead (8min/mile). i started out a little slower than goal pace for the first mile but that was ok, just the first mile. miles 2-4 i held back a tad but ran those close enough to pace as well. after mile 4 i decided i still felt pretty good so i picked it up a bit (aiming for 7:30min/mile). hit those targets well with the exception of a few slower miles where the big hills were. miles 9-11 were a little hard, starting to feel a little tired, but as i neared the mile 12 sign my adrenaline kicked in and took me all the way in.

the finish was cool - entered the local minor league baseball stadium (complete with a mini- green monster) and ran around the warning track to the finish, which was all shown on the big screen in center field.

mile 1 - 8:32, 164
mile 2 - 8:09, 166
mile 3 - 8:10, 168
mile 4 - 8:01, 167
mile 5 - 7:38, 177
mile 6 - 7:35, 182
mile 7 - 7:24, 179
mile 8 - 7:30, 181
mile 9 - 7:49, 182
mile 10 - 7:53, 180
mile 11 - 7:35, 180
mile 12 - 7:39, 183
mile 13.1 - 7:45, 183

i didn't stick around for awards. it was mid-50s and drizzly and i was getting chilly in my sweat and the rain. official times are of course not posted yet but my watch says i ran a 1:41. my half pr is a 1:40 (without much consistent training) and i am fairly pleased with today's 1:41 since i was holding back a little. i feel like i could've cut a few minutes off my time had i pushed it more.

am run: 13.1 miles, 1:41:54 (7:46 avg pace), avg/max hr (176/194)