My second installment of the ING Georgia Half Marathon is done, and overall it was a good morning. Since ING is no longer sponsoring the race after this year, 1: after they build enough brand for it to be called “The ING” 2: after the race jumped from 12,000 to 16,000 total runners this year, and 3: after they finally got a decent race director to fix some problems that have plagued the event since its inception, I will refer to it as the Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon (although I did tell the Mizuno guys they would make a great title sponsor, so if that happens I take the credit)
Before the recap lets take a look back at my 2008 running. First racing ever beyond 10K’s and Olympic distance triathlons. I wanted to improve my running for triathlons and get a base for Augusta. For the Georgia Half Marathon my training was good until the last weeks and I had some falloff, which showed in my finish time of 2:20.18. Out of 9,716 half marathon finishers I placed 5,989, so in the 60th percentile. At the 70.3 race in Augusta my half marathon pace was 2:19.21, 61st percentile. So basically I had conquered the distance, but needed better pacing. After the Augusta 70.3 race I did a local 5 miler in 39:47 (7:57 min/mile pace) then this year followed up with two 10K times of 50:24 (8:06 pace), then a few weeks later of 48:16 (7:47 pace). So two weeks ago I was feeling good after that 10K and set a goal for a sub 2 hour half marathon.
This year the half marathon had 10,481 finishers. I went in with a little more course knowledge than last year, and was better prepared for the rolling hills, especially in the last 4 miles.
The morning started early meeting some other friends running at 5:30am then heading downtown. We had a group of 6 running across all abilities. Weather was mid 50’s and overcast so great conditions. I took off easy and settled into a comfortable pace. One thing I tried this time was running without my GPS, and going on feel. I was going to run based on my perception and not worry about time until at least an hour into the race. I ended up on my 8 mile split at 1:11.58, so I knew then if I could finish with 9 mile pacing I would have a few minutes to spare and break 2 hours. My pace over the 8 mile split was 8:59, and I ended up pacing 9:00 flat over the last 5.1 miles for the total time of 1:58.16. Felt some leg fatigue on the last few hills but never a doubt that I would make it once I hit the 12 mile mark and had 12 minutes to spare.
Everyone in our group did great, and we had a fun time. I was able to take 22 minutes, 2 seconds off last years time and jump from the 60th percentile of run time up to the 25th percentile. (also jumped up from 5,989 overall to 2,667 overall) I am very pleased yet I think I can get that time down even more in the future. At least I know where I can improve my 70.3 time by 20 minutes, so now if I can find 20 minutes on the bike I will be close to the 5 hour mark at Augusta. Always something to work on.
Training gets specific for Alcatraz now as my runs get a bit shorter. Should be fully recovered by tomorrow for this weeks work. I did miss a scheduled brick this weekend of 90mim/30min, but I think running the half marathon was enough leg work to sustain. I have a 2h15min ride scheduled for this Saturday so I may just add a little run in to make up for that.
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