ARC Decker Half Marathon Race Report
I must say that I'm once again pleased with a good half marathon. I always wish the time was a little bit better but given the Austin Runners Club Decker Half Marathon course, I'll take a solid 2:19:29 effort.
While it was my 54th half marathon since November 1, 2003 (yes, that's just over 10 per year), it was my 14th sub-2:20 half and six (3M, Texarkana, Kansas, St. Louis, Sioux Falls and Decker) of the top 16 have been in 2008.
This was a hilly course and it is probably as tough or tougher than Huntsville. It is the first three miles of the News and Sentinel Half Marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia repeated four times. When you think you've just finished one hill, here comes another one. And I ran better on it than I did on either one multiple times.
Granted, the weather was a major factor in all of this, but it was still 13.1 miles.
Mile 1 -- 9:24:58
Mile 2 -- 10:42.96 (20:07.34)
Obviously, these miles were way off as mile 1 had an uphill in it early. Sheesh!
Mile 3 -- 10:27.75 (30:35.09)
Mile 4 -- 10:09.93 (40:45.02)
Mile 5 -- 10:45.89 (51:30.91)
Mile 6 -- 10:39.49 (1:02:10.40)
Mile 7 -- 10:26.38 (1:12:36.78)
Mile 8 -- 10:17.74 (1:22:54.52)
Mile 9 -- 10:52.13 (1:33:46.65)
Mile 10 -- 11:21.76 (1:45:08.41)
Even though this was the toughest mile on the course (reminded me half of mile 21 in the Alpharetta Marathon in Georgia), I was still at 10:30/mile. But I didn't know that we still had some more hills left to contend with.
Mile 11 -- 11:08.70 (1:56:17.11)
Mile 12 -- 11:05.00 (2:07:23.11)
Mile 13 -- 11:09.52 (2:18:32.64)
Last .1 -- 57.30 (2:19:29.93)
I'm setting the '10 3M Half Marathon as a goal to break 2 hours.
Inside the Travis County Exposition Center before the race, I saw Seven Hills Running club member Mary Patterson, Lisa Tilton-McCarthy (Al Lawrence Running Club) and Walt Yarrow (Finish Line Sports) and TIR teammate Jessica Alexander.
Walt finished in 1:39:14. Lisa was third in her age group with a 1:45:39 showing. Jessica wasn't far behind in 1:47-even while Mary finished in 2:48:20.
When I went to sign up a little more than an hour before the race, the guy at the registration table recognized my name and associated it with the Chronicle blog. It turned out that he was Tim Green, the editor of the newsletter for the Austin Runners Club (one of my counterparts) in Inside Texas Running. So after the race, he and I had a chance to talk for a little bit.
I also saw and talked to Steve Elenniss of Cedar Park (1:52:26) - and Jenny, his wife - who did the pre-TIR in October '07 with Jay and Joy Hilscher, myself, Mike and Sarah Burton and her dad, Joe Ross.
That's pretty much it. Up at 3 a.m., leave at 3:30 a.m. to take Waverly to my parents so she could go to Sunday School and church and then make it to the race location by 6:35 a.m.
Later this evening went to The Woodlands Running Club holiday party/general membership meeting. Not too much to report from there.
While it was my 54th half marathon since November 1, 2003 (yes, that's just over 10 per year), it was my 14th sub-2:20 half and six (3M, Texarkana, Kansas, St. Louis, Sioux Falls and Decker) of the top 16 have been in 2008.
This was a hilly course and it is probably as tough or tougher than Huntsville. It is the first three miles of the News and Sentinel Half Marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia repeated four times. When you think you've just finished one hill, here comes another one. And I ran better on it than I did on either one multiple times.
Granted, the weather was a major factor in all of this, but it was still 13.1 miles.
Mile 1 -- 9:24:58
Mile 2 -- 10:42.96 (20:07.34)
Obviously, these miles were way off as mile 1 had an uphill in it early. Sheesh!
Mile 3 -- 10:27.75 (30:35.09)
Mile 4 -- 10:09.93 (40:45.02)
Mile 5 -- 10:45.89 (51:30.91)
Mile 6 -- 10:39.49 (1:02:10.40)
Mile 7 -- 10:26.38 (1:12:36.78)
Mile 8 -- 10:17.74 (1:22:54.52)
Mile 9 -- 10:52.13 (1:33:46.65)
Mile 10 -- 11:21.76 (1:45:08.41)
Even though this was the toughest mile on the course (reminded me half of mile 21 in the Alpharetta Marathon in Georgia), I was still at 10:30/mile. But I didn't know that we still had some more hills left to contend with.
Mile 11 -- 11:08.70 (1:56:17.11)
Mile 12 -- 11:05.00 (2:07:23.11)
Mile 13 -- 11:09.52 (2:18:32.64)
Last .1 -- 57.30 (2:19:29.93)
I'm setting the '10 3M Half Marathon as a goal to break 2 hours.
Inside the Travis County Exposition Center before the race, I saw Seven Hills Running club member Mary Patterson, Lisa Tilton-McCarthy (Al Lawrence Running Club) and Walt Yarrow (Finish Line Sports) and TIR teammate Jessica Alexander.
Walt finished in 1:39:14. Lisa was third in her age group with a 1:45:39 showing. Jessica wasn't far behind in 1:47-even while Mary finished in 2:48:20.
When I went to sign up a little more than an hour before the race, the guy at the registration table recognized my name and associated it with the Chronicle blog. It turned out that he was Tim Green, the editor of the newsletter for the Austin Runners Club (one of my counterparts) in Inside Texas Running. So after the race, he and I had a chance to talk for a little bit.
I also saw and talked to Steve Elenniss of Cedar Park (1:52:26) - and Jenny, his wife - who did the pre-TIR in October '07 with Jay and Joy Hilscher, myself, Mike and Sarah Burton and her dad, Joe Ross.
That's pretty much it. Up at 3 a.m., leave at 3:30 a.m. to take Waverly to my parents so she could go to Sunday School and church and then make it to the race location by 6:35 a.m.
Later this evening went to The Woodlands Running Club holiday party/general membership meeting. Not too much to report from there.
posted by WalkSports.com | 12:49 PM
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