David Lara and myself, after the race
I had a solid race on this local half marathon, the Pillar Point Run to Benefit Coastside Child Development Center, starting off on the fast side but managing to hold it together. The first miles ticked by at what is for me an especially fast half marathon pace, about 6:06 per mile. I checked my watch when I passed the early mile markers and I was consistent. I chased my friend and fellow running club member, David Lara, the entire race. I put in a couple of strong surges, but he picked up the pace, too. I had plenty of endurance, and never felt desperate to finish like I have for many other races. Towards the end my legs started developing this "jello" feeling, but I held on.
He finished first place, and I was second.
So, was this a personal record? On the one hand, by my Garmin watch, I ran longer and at a faster pace than ever, averaging 6:06 for 13.38 miles. (A half marathon is 13.1 miles.) On the other hand, the official answer would be "no" and that I was a bit slower than in 2009. (I skipped it in 2010.) So, was the course long or was my watch not very accurate? I'm going to guess that the course was a bit long. The race organizers don't give a USATF certification #, for example, so I don't think it was rigorously measured, but I'm just guessing. For myself, I'm going to count this as a personal record!
My Garmin data is here.
Here are the results, in a spreadsheet file that apparently has the wrong file extension, but newer versions of Excel can open it with a warning.
I weighed 166.2 lbs the morning of the race. Kind of heavy.
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