I ended up finishing Sunday in 1:48:36. It was an awesome day. Just 41 seconds off of my half PR and I really had no goal other than to enjoy the race. I ran my 2nd marathon just 4 weeks prior to this half (I'd signed up for this half a full year ago), so wasn't sure if I had fully recovered, etc. My limited training runs since the marathon were nothing special and I certainly didn't feel like I had much speed in me. So I really approached this half almost like a training run. The first half of the course is hilly and then it's flat. Last year I went out too fast and was miserable for the last 6 miles. This year I planned to go out slow and then once I got to the flat part I figured I'd just go with whatever I was feeling.
I found the 152/345 pacer (this race is a half and a full... which is just 2 loops of the half). I asked him if he was planning to run just even splits or even effort because of the hills. He told me he had never run the course, so didn't really know much about it. So I was briefly concerned, but then I quickly found out he had been a pacer at the Chicago marathon that I had just run and so I figured he must be able to run whatever pace he needs to. I'd never run with a pacer before for even a minute, and had barely noticed even noticed pacers in prior races past the corrals. Although I didn't really want to start as fast as his pace, the race was small enough that I figured I could easily keep an eye on him and just see what transpired. Surprisingly, that pace (which happened to be my marathon goal pace from 4 weeks back) still seemed easy and natural for me on Sunday.
So I ran with that pacer until almost the 7 mile mark and we were pretty chatty. I had never really run a race before while being conversational. At about the halfway mark, it flattens out and apparently I sped up. I found another runner to hang with at about the 8 mile mark and we stayed together until about the 12 mile marker. We were both talking and, again, the race just felt easy like a long run. From the midway point until the end of the race, I really don't remember anyone passing me. Runners just felt like they were coming back to me. This was the polar opposite of last year's race. It was weird... maybe because I had no aspiration to PR. Maybe my marathon training was still carrying me. With about 2 miles to go, I realized I could probably PR if I wanted to run hard enough to really hurt. I decided against that. With about a mile to go, I did intentionally pick up the pace. I finally got a little "uncomfortable", but this was only in the last 1/2 mile or so. My fastest 2 miles ended up being miles 12 and 13.
In hindsight, I'm guessing I could've pushed harder in the 2nd half and probably could've PR'd. However it was really a nice run and I can't imagine enjoying the actually running part of a half marathon anymore than this. A bigger venue with more spectators could've been nice and exciting. Running in Disney certainly would've been more fun. But something about just showing up and not knowing what to expect, and then a very solid race just sorta unfolding organically is pretty special. My splits were 55:43 and 52:53. I tried to run negative splits in Chicago, but couldn't help myself from going out too fast. I'm sure it's easier to actually do it in a half, but FOR ME this is the way to race. So....
ATYQOTD: My best races are when I can relax early in a race and just "let the pace come to me". It's really difficult to execute when you have fresh legs that just want to take off when the gun sounds. But my most enjoyable and successful races have come when I was disciplined enough to start slow and finish stronger.
