New Prague Half Marathon - May 8, 2010

The New Prague Half Marathon was race 5 of 13 in the MDRA Grand Prix Series.  I missed race 4 (Get in Gear 10k) because it was the same weekend as the Big Sur Marathon.  By not running the 10k, I fell to 16th place in the overall standings.  However since you can only include your top 10 results among the 13 races, it shouldn't hurt me as long as I finish at least 10 of the races. 

It was a cold and blustery day in New Prague with temps in the low 40's and a 15-20mph wind from the north.  I sat in my warm car until it was time to begin warming up.  The half marathon course was basically a large vertical rectangle running in a clockwise direction.  The first 2.5 miles took us east before turning south for the next 4 miles.  The rolling rural course was surrounded by open farm fields on both sides.  I kept a steady pace in the low 6:50/mile range taking advantage of the tail wind as we headed south.

At the halfway point we turned west for another 2.5 miles.  I realized the wind was more from the northwest as it began to buffet us with strong wind gusts.  Not a good sign considering we had to run north for the final 4 miles.  With about 4 miles to go we turned north heading directly into the teeth of the wind.  I struggled to maintain my pace with the wind and the rolling hills, but I had a good time going and my legs felt surprisingly strong despite my recent marathon. 

I've been trying to break 90 minutes in the half marathon for two years now and with 2 miles left it looked like I might actually have a shot.  At the same time precipitation in the form of ice pellets began to sting my face which was a momentary unwelcomed distraction.  With 1 mile to go I took advantage of a downhill section to push the pace, running mile 13 in 6:37, my fastest of the race.  As I hit the final stretch I saw my Garmin reading 1:29 but didn't know the seconds.  I pushed as hard as I could but saw it flip to 1:30 with about 50 yards to go.  I crossed the finish line with a new personal best of 1:30:15 - a full 1:12 better than my previous PR.  I was thrilled with my time since I wasn't expecting to challenge my PR today.

I finished 32 of 609 finishers and 2 of 33 in my age group.  In addition, my performance earned me an additional 778 Grand Prix points boosting my season point total to 3,018.  The race also helped me climb 4 positions to 12th in the overall standings.  The next Grand Prix event is Grandma's Marathon on June 19th, however I have one more 'fun' race next week - the Medtronic TC - 1 Mile on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis.   

http://www.andersonraces.com/Results/nphalfrs10.htm