I couple of weeks ago I decided I had 1 more half marathon in me, so I decided to sign up for the Richmond Half Marathon. Although I knew i would be traveling solo, i was aware of several runners from my area that were making the trip up so I knew I would probably run into someone I knew. As expected, at the expo I ran into 4 other Raleigh runners, one being the notorious Dr. D. I got a good night’s sleep friday night and woke up on Saturday ready to take on the next 13.1 miles.
I had been going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to try for a PR, it boiled down to how I was feeling after the first mile. The temperature was chilly 39, so it was almost prime weather to run fast. I started out staying within striking distance of the 1:45 pacer and i wanted to see how i would hold up. My PR was 1:48 so if i could hang with the pacer, I was guaranteed a new PR. After mile 8, I felt stronger and was handling the hills a lot better than a lot of the runners around me. As i got stronger, i started picking up my pace. I passed the 1:45 pacer after mile 9 and decided to see if I could keep the pace. 10,11,12 and still i was well ahead of 1:45. This half marathon is notorious for its final mile being straight downhill, and it did not disappoint. I galloped down the final downhill and crossed the finish line in a time of 1:43:05, a new PR by 5 minutes. Very happy with the outcome and now my 2016 has seen me PR in both marathon and half marathons. It has been a good year.
TMilesAndRunning 