28th annual Lincoln National Guard Half Marathon Race Report
Career Events: 103 (23 in 2005).
Career Half Marathons: 15.
States: 13.
Half Marathons in 8 states.
Event gun time: 2:22:13.
Event chip (and stopwatch) time: 2:18:51.
Sunday morning in Lincoln, Nebraska temperature-wise wasn't too cold, just 37 degrees. However, it was the wind that would make the morning seem almost absolutely frigid!
The local bank signs on the way towards Memorial Stadium revealed a warmer temperature than that a day earlier in Des Moines, but winds, sometimes gusting, made it feel much colder than it was even on the morning of the Houston Marathon this past January.
Most took refuge from the elements in the Huskers volleyball gymnasium and impressive intramural sports facility. (With facilities such as that, why ever stop going to college? Oddly enough, I never realized that there were national championships in intramural athletics, but Nebraska has won some.)
Having been through Lincoln three years ago on vacation, I remember it being very flat; however, mile 3 had a nearly mile-long uphill that ran right into the sun at 7:30 a.m. With glasses, I was almost blinded chugging up the hill.
The grade wasn’t steep at all, but it threw my pace off a little. After opening miles of 10:06 and 10:18, the next three, which included historic Sheridan Boulevard and many of the finest old homes in the city, consisted of 10:40, 10:37 and 10:40.
Mile 6 gave runners a couple of slight downhills turning on to 48th St. before making a hard right onto a bike path that would extend along Highway 2 for two and a half miles. At the 10K spot, just after the turn, I was at 1:04:48 after posting a 10:14 mile in mile 6.
After a steady 10:21 in mile 7, disaster nearly occurred before the mile 8 marker. The bike path, which allowed at the most four people to run side by side, had two runners that decided to take a walking break; however, they were walking two abreast on the path.
Myself and a number of other runners tried to make a quick pass on the left. Since it was a little bit of an incline, I tried to plant my left leg to mimic the hill workouts we would do during PIM. It was then that I felt my calf muscle pop (or tear). I felt as if I had been shot!
I slowed some 23 seconds in mile 8 (10:21 to 10:44) before slipping to an even 11-minute mile in mile 9.
Somehow in an uphill mile 10, I recovered to pull in a 10:27 mile, but miles 11-13, which included some challenging head winds running north on 10th St., saw me slow to 10:59, 10:49 and 10:52.
After having to jump a curb at 12 ¾ miles, runners ran through campus buildings before being brought into a “U”-shaped finish in front of Memorial Stadium much like Houston did in 2004 in front of the George R. Brown (before switching to this year’s long straightaway finish). Even though I’m not a Texas Longhorns fan, I crossed the finish line, just a few hundred yards from the Huskers’ hallowed turf, with “Hook ‘em Horns” signs!
I finished with a chip time of 2:18:51, just over two minutes slower than I had done less than 24 hours before (and my fourth such finish of a half in the 2:16-2:18 range since March). However, I was still very pleased with my effort!
Career Half Marathons: 15.
States: 13.
Half Marathons in 8 states.
Event gun time: 2:22:13.
Event chip (and stopwatch) time: 2:18:51.
Sunday morning in Lincoln, Nebraska temperature-wise wasn't too cold, just 37 degrees. However, it was the wind that would make the morning seem almost absolutely frigid!
The local bank signs on the way towards Memorial Stadium revealed a warmer temperature than that a day earlier in Des Moines, but winds, sometimes gusting, made it feel much colder than it was even on the morning of the Houston Marathon this past January.
Most took refuge from the elements in the Huskers volleyball gymnasium and impressive intramural sports facility. (With facilities such as that, why ever stop going to college? Oddly enough, I never realized that there were national championships in intramural athletics, but Nebraska has won some.)
Having been through Lincoln three years ago on vacation, I remember it being very flat; however, mile 3 had a nearly mile-long uphill that ran right into the sun at 7:30 a.m. With glasses, I was almost blinded chugging up the hill.
The grade wasn’t steep at all, but it threw my pace off a little. After opening miles of 10:06 and 10:18, the next three, which included historic Sheridan Boulevard and many of the finest old homes in the city, consisted of 10:40, 10:37 and 10:40.
Mile 6 gave runners a couple of slight downhills turning on to 48th St. before making a hard right onto a bike path that would extend along Highway 2 for two and a half miles. At the 10K spot, just after the turn, I was at 1:04:48 after posting a 10:14 mile in mile 6.
After a steady 10:21 in mile 7, disaster nearly occurred before the mile 8 marker. The bike path, which allowed at the most four people to run side by side, had two runners that decided to take a walking break; however, they were walking two abreast on the path.
Myself and a number of other runners tried to make a quick pass on the left. Since it was a little bit of an incline, I tried to plant my left leg to mimic the hill workouts we would do during PIM. It was then that I felt my calf muscle pop (or tear). I felt as if I had been shot!
I slowed some 23 seconds in mile 8 (10:21 to 10:44) before slipping to an even 11-minute mile in mile 9.
Somehow in an uphill mile 10, I recovered to pull in a 10:27 mile, but miles 11-13, which included some challenging head winds running north on 10th St., saw me slow to 10:59, 10:49 and 10:52.
After having to jump a curb at 12 ¾ miles, runners ran through campus buildings before being brought into a “U”-shaped finish in front of Memorial Stadium much like Houston did in 2004 in front of the George R. Brown (before switching to this year’s long straightaway finish). Even though I’m not a Texas Longhorns fan, I crossed the finish line, just a few hundred yards from the Huskers’ hallowed turf, with “Hook ‘em Horns” signs!
I finished with a chip time of 2:18:51, just over two minutes slower than I had done less than 24 hours before (and my fourth such finish of a half in the 2:16-2:18 range since March). However, I was still very pleased with my effort!
posted by WalkSports.com | 11:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home