Grimsby Half Marathon

• Grimsby Half Marathon (click to see stats & route)
• Chip Time = 1:47:05 (click to see race stats)
  
• Category Place = 18/39 (M 35-39)
  
• Overall Place = 131/246 (top 40%)
• Avg. Heart Rate = 160 bpm
• Max. Heart Rate = 169 bpm
• Avg. Pace = 5:02 /km
• Max. Pace = 4:34 /km
• Calories = 2025
• Temp = 3º
• SOTD = ‘Got to Get Better In a Little While’ (live) by Derek & the Dominoes

I really had no idea up until the start how I wanted to approach this race today.  Part of me wanted to go ‘balls to the wall’ and see how much I could top my previous Personal Best at this distance (2:06:02), and the other part just wanted to enjoy the day and treat it as any other training run.  The former logic prevailed in the end and I just decided to run a “smart” race instead and just see what happens.

Right off the hop, the lead out pace was fast and after the first 2k I decided to let the speed demons go, find my comfortable race pace and see how many I could reel back in by the end.  I’ve learned that I’m a ‘chaser’ at heart and I seem to perform better and get stronger the longer and farther I go.  Knowing this, I began to earmark the runners around me who were beginning to break away in the hopes that I would find them later after they’d burned themselves out.

With this in mind the first 10k or so were rather comfortable, albeit maybe a bit too comfortable so I decided to begin ‘reeling in the line’, so to speak.  As it also happened around the 11k mark, the course took a turn into very sloppy, snowy paths and unplowed neighborhood streets that lacked anything resembling traction; all the better for me as this is also what I train in 7 times out of 10 lately, so I decided to take advantage of the situation and attack.  What the hell.  I quickly dropped my current group of runners and went in search of the next pack ahead of me, and so it went for the next 5-6 kilometers with me giving chase to the same runners I had marked way back in the early stages and passing them.  Besides being a shitload of fun, this ‘search and destroy’ tactic serves me well in races and often results in some nice negative splits for me (as was the case today).

Over all, I felt great and ran well.  I stripped nearly 20 minutes off my PB set last summer, maintained a fast average pace of 5:02 k/ph, and finished in the top half of my very competitive age category to boot (also a first).  To top it all off, given ideal weather and road conditions, I think I could do it faster still.  Not bad for a stoner, eh?  There were a few times, of course, when my right hip flexor became tight (as it does), followed by the customary ache in my left knee as a result of my left side overcompensating, but it was nowhere near the point of my ever having to stop or slow down.  I also noticed that I developed stiff shoulders around the 18k mark, which is unusual as I’m typically a pretty relaxed runner.  But regardless, it was a good day and definitely a fantastic confidence booster heading into the Bay next month.

2011 Fitness Goal #2 – ACHIEVED