This was my second and last half marathon of the summer taking place in Richfield. This race had a little bit of everything (gravel trails, paved trails and residential streets. The course was very scenic as it traveled through 4 different wild land areas - surprising to find in the middle of Richfield by the way. Apparently Runner's World magazine rated this race the 4th best half marathon in the country.
I was a little concerned about the weather which has been very hot and humid this past week. The forecast high today was 90, but the race started bright and early at 7am to beat the worst of the heat. Actually it wasn't too bad until the last 3-4 miles. Much of the course was shaded with residential trees and tree cover in the wild land areas.
Anyway, things went well. I ran a 1:48 half marathon in St Cloud in April and wanted to run under 1:40 today. I ran the first mile in 7:25 and simply held this pace through the entire race finishing in 1:37:20. I tried to pick up the pace over the last 3 miles but with the heat, my body didn't respond but I didn't fall off the pace either. Gail and Emily tracked me on the course providing encouragement along the way.
I finished 105th out of 1,104 runners and 8th of 73 in my age group.
Just two more races this season! A 20 mile tune up September 6th in White Bear Lake and the Chicago Marathon on October 12th. Will a Boston Marathon qualifying time be a possibility? Probably still a long shot this year, but with two more months of injury-free training, good health, determination/will power, nice weather in Chicago, along with a large number of spectators providing race day encouragement - who knows!
http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=8486&relist_record_type=result&lower_bound=0&upper_bound=1105&use_previous_sql=1&group_by=default#racetop
