Two Cities Half Marathon

Weather: about 50F (10C), or maybe upper 40s, calm, and clear. The promised showers never materialized, thankfully. Really perfect race weather. I wore my new arm-warmers for the first 3 miles or so then stuffed them in my shorts waistband because I didn't need them after that.

Warm-up: about 1500m with Diana, pretty fast, about 5:45/km. It was fun! We also hung out with Becky & Art Klein, Doreen, and Alex before the race (all racewalkers).

The race: It felt easy at the start to do a 5:45/k pace, so we started off at that speed, getting to the first mile in 9:21. Then the 2nd mile was a bit uphill, and my shoelace came untied because I forgot to double-knot the right one (and hadn't yet put lace locks on these shoes - bit mistake!). Diana went ahead, but after I tied my shoe I accelerated and caught her. Unfortunately, I pushed "stop" on my watch when I tied my shoe (habit from workouts...grrrrr) and then thought I hit start but actually didn't. I didn't notice for about 1km, until I got to 2 miles and looked at my splits in confusion. Uh-oh. How annoying! I felt very good through about 4-5 miles (Diana says our 5K was about 29:30ish; she was right behind me), and then I had to push a bit more to keep the pace. I was slowing, still, but after 10K (in about 59:30) I picked it up going down the nice hill and did a 9:14 mile. That helped my cadence increase a bit, and I felt able to push through the next mile (9:25) and then up the hill at a 9:50 pace, much faster than last year's pace up the hill. The hill seemed smaller this year, too, though the gradual incline after the big hill makes it hard to keep pushing to the finish. Still, I pulled off a 9:32, then a 9:36, and finally 2 miles in 19:07 (forgot to press lap at mile 12) and then 1:02 for the last 0.1 (slight uphill there).

Total time from the chip: 2:05:33 for 5:57/km (9:35/mile) and a new PR by almost 2 minutes! Jim figures that my 20K was just under 1:59 (seems right). I'm pleased that I walked a very consistent pace from start to finish (except for the hill) and that I felt so good pushing to the finish this year. Last year it was really tough those last 2-3 miles, but this year, while I was working hard, it was much better - I felt stronger and able to push, and kept my pace all the way to the finish.
Family photo post-race:

Awards: LOVE this race...post-race they give out sundaes, a hot breakfast, a finisher sweatshirt (in addition to the tech-T in the goody bag at the expo), AND great awards. For winning the 1/2 I got a gift certificate from a local running store for a FREE pair of New Balance shoes! I picked out these NB1400s (awesome shoes BTW). I also got a gorgeous charm necklace from www.endureshop.com, worth $68+. It has 2 charms, one that says XIII.I (13.1) and one that has the race logo on it.

Garmin connect data here.