Minnesota Half Marathon - August 2, 2014

The Minnesota Half Marathon is the fourth and final event of the Minnesota Running Series "points" event.  Participants earn points in each race based on their finishing position to determine overall champions and age group champions.  A runners top three results comprise your overall point totals with the lowest point total race thrown out as a mulligan.  I've locked up first place in my age group heading into this race, so I don't need a top performance today, plus, it's 70 degrees and sunny this morning - 20 degrees warmer than any of my races so far this year.  I'm a bit concerned about the toll the heat will take on me today which is another reason why I plan to run hard, but not push for any records, or individual achievements.  It's my fourth half marathon in just 75 days and it's really hard to stay mentally tough for so many races in a short period of time.
    
This is my first time running the Minnesota Half, but I'm relatively familiar with the course from prior races that have used this stretch of Shepard Road.  This race begins and ends on Shepard Road across from Downtown St. Paul.  Shepard Road has a wide grass median dividing both lanes, making it easy to structure a two way course on the same road without interference issues.  There are some hills to deal with between miles 7-11, with the toughest hill being the last one right after mile 11.    

The race also featured an inline half marathon skate, which began about 15 minutes before the half marathon run.  First time in a long time that I've not been wet, chilled or uncomfortably cold at the start of a race.  Sure was a beautiful morning as we waiting for the gun, but knew it was going to be a bit on the warm and uncomfortable side once we got underway.  Shepard Road is predominantly cement.  The benefits are a nice, smooth, pothole free surface which doesn't radiate heat like most Minnesota black top roads, but cement seems to be much harder on the joints than blacktop.  Of course it may just be psychological.  

As the race began, I fell in just behind the 1:30 pace team which is where I normally run.  Then with about 5 miles to go I try to accelerate and push past them to break 1:30 for the race.  This plan worked well for me at this year's Minnetonka and Garry Bjorklund  half marathons.  But as stated earlier, I wasn't looking to break 1:30 today because of the heat and humidity.  I stayed with the pace team until we got close to the 9 mile turn-around.  At that point I faded about 1 minute behind them for the rest of the race.  It felt uncomfortably hot and humid during the race and I was perspiring heavily.  Just wanted to make it to the finish line in one piece.             

I finished with a time of 1:31:17, good for 40 place overall among 1,375 finishers and 2nd in my age group among 90 finishers.  The race did take a toll on my body though.  I felt sick for two days afterwards.  Race day sickness was due to my electrolytes being all out of whack from heavy fluid loss, but the second day was more a case of my body's resistance levels running on empty.  By Monday I felt fine again.  I'm sure it was the heat, as I've experienced this before in warm weather races.   

Race Results:

http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-8960?lc=en

Now my heavy mileage weeks are coming up in preparation for the Twin Cities Marathon.  My next race will be on September 13th, the Bear Water 20 Mile Run in White Bear Lake.  20 mile runs will be part of my training diet over the next month and a half before I taper for Twin Cities.  Below are the final standings for the Minnesota Running Series.  I won my age group and finished second overall among all male participants.  The point earning scale was different for women vs. men, so an overall results comparison between male/female is irrelevant.  

Final Standings for Minnesota Running Series:
http://www.minnesotarunningseries.com/standings-2