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USATF Half Marathon Championships

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Location:

Fort Collins,CO,

Member Since:

May 15, 2003

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided PR's:
5K: 14:48 (Track - 2001)
10K: 30:45 (Track - 2001)
10K: 31:32 (Bolder Boulder - 2013)
Half Marathon: 1:06:09 (Duluth - 2013)
Marathon: 2:17:54 (Grandma's) - 2014)
Marathon: 2:19:47 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2013)
Marathon: 2:19:49 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2010)

Aided PR's:
10K: 29:38 (Des News - 2011)
Half Marathon: 1:05:30 (TOU Half - 2011)
Marathon: 2:18:09 (St George - 2007)
Marathon: 2:17:35 (Boston - 2011)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in June of 2008. Started taking Enbrel in March, 2009.

Run as much as I can, and race as well as I can. Make the most of however much time I have left as an able-bodied runner.

Training for the 2018 Colorado Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

  Run until I'm old, and then run some more. Stand tall.

Personal:

1 wife, 2 kids. 1 cat. Work as a GIS Specialist/Map Geek

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to your good. - Ovid

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:1-5

 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony Trail Shoe Lifetime Miles: 247.50
Hoka Clifton Lifetime Miles: 491.50
Saucony Type A6 Lifetime Miles: 186.50
Saucony Zealot Lifetime Miles: 478.75
Saucony Kinvara 6 Lifetime Miles: 433.50
Saucony Kinvara 6-2 Lifetime Miles: 358.75
Brooks Pure Connect Blue Lifetime Miles: 337.25
New Balance Trainers Lifetime Miles: 314.50
New Balance 1400 Racers Lifetime Miles: 65.00
Brook Pureflow Lifetime Miles: 99.50
Race: USATF Half Marathon Championships (13.109 Miles) 01:06:09, Place overall: 53
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.0013.000.000.0018.00

Good race today...only thing that would have made it better was if I had 10 more seconds in me...but I can say that about every race, right? But today was a nice stepping stone, and now I feel like I have a solid non-downhill PR that I can grow off of. My previous official non-aided PR was 1:08:05, so this is almost two minutes faster. 53rd place in a PR race is pretty humbling...today showed how deep the U.S. is right now, and 40+ guys under 1:05 is something to get excited about. USATF keeps raising the bar, and people keep responding.

On to the race details. Today was pretty close to perfect for a late-June race. Upper 40s in temp the whole way, with some mist/fog here and there. Humid enough to drink water just by opening your mouth, but cool enough to offset the humidity. Wind was initially looking like a decent tailwind, but it inexplicably died right before the race. Andrea later said that weather stations were reporting 5mph from the north during the race, so either no effect or slightly favorable crosswind. In short, a good setup for lots of fast times.

 I wanted to make sure not to get out too hard, so held back at the start. I was 5:01 at mile 1, which was about perfect. I was amazed how far back I was already though, as the leaders took it out way hard. The pack was already a bit strung out, more than I expected.

Jake caught up to me after the first mile, and we ran the next mile together. I tried to settle in a grove, but apparently settled too much as mile 2 was 5:07. I tried to pick it back uo to 5-flat, which was my target pace, but seemed to overcompensate, and hit 4:53 for Mile 3. Or maybe there was just a lot of downhill that mile. 15:33 for 5k split.

Mile 4 was 5:03, and Mile 5 was also 5:03. Again, I was a little concerned about falling off pace, but then Mile 6 was 4:52. 31:07 for the 10k split. In some ways I was running dead-even, but really my pace was yo-yoing too much.

Somewhere in the Mile 4-5 range, I caught up to Bryant Jensen, and it was nice to find a familiar face, especially someone with similar time goals. Bryant and I ended up working off of each other for most of the remainder of the race. This was a good thing, as there were very few packs out there, just a string of runners. Bryant and I picked them off one-by-one, and according to the handy-dandy timing chip stats, from 5k to the finish I passed something like 27 runners, and only got passed by one (who I think was Bryant). So that was a big postive.

So halfway through the race, I was exactly on my goal pace for 1:05:30, which was good, but at no point was it feeling easy. Coming into the second half of the race, I was a little worried about falling apart, but working with Bryant was a big help, and all the people coming back was a boost as well. So I just kept it going the best I could. I never did fall apart, but I couldn't get any more 5:00-miles either...stuck somewhere in the middle.

Mile 7 was 5:05, not good. Mile 8 was just under 5:07...even worse. But then Mile 9 was 5:02, and Mile 10 was back to 5:05. 50:20 for 10 miles. So I was hanging in there, but sub-1:06 was looking a little grim...but still possible with a strong finish. I knew the race ended with a net downhill for the last 3 miles, so I held on to hope that some good things could happen.

And there was some downhill, but also some of the bigger uphills of the race. 5:05 for Mile 11. Bryant, who was running really strong, finally separated from me during Mile 12, and put about 5 seconds on me, and then another 5-6 seconds in me during the last mile. Mile 12 was yet another 5:05, a pace that I discovered I am really good at running.

Yet even after all these slower splits, I looked at my watch with 1.1 mile to go and figured out that a 4:55 last mile with a decent kick would still bring me to sub-1:06 (which was worth $500, by the way). I tried to push the last mile the best I could, but my legs didn't have much to offer in terms of pop. I did pass a couple guys, though, including one in the final sprint to the finish, so that was a good way to end. When I turned the final corner, I could see the clock clicking off "1:05:40..." and tried to dig down deep...who know, maybe I had run  the last mile faster than my legs felt? But also the finish line clock is always farther than it appears...strange phenomenon. It clicked over 1:06:00 with about 50 meters left, and I saw $500 flit away.

Ended up with 1:06:09 gun time, 1:06:08 chip time. Will take the gun time, and it's a nice PR. Last 1.1 mile was 5:38, which is (of course) 5:05 pace. Took 53rd overall, which just amazes me in terms of depth of the race...40+ guys under 1:05, which is Japan-like in half marathon depth. Truly a great championship event, and I was glad to be part of it. Even though I didn't quite get my time goal, my race was fast enough to encourage me to keep going and try for sub-2:18 in the marathon. I still have a lot of work to do, and it may not come this year, but I think it's achievable and worth pursuing.

Pics from Andrea's camera below:


.

Brooks Launch Yellow Miles: 2.50Saucony A5 Flat Miles: 15.50
Comments
From JamesH on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 10:53:51 from 208.117.127.7

Very impressive as always Paul. Congrats on the PR!

From Rob Murphy on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 10:58:21 from 75.134.145.181

Great race all around Paul - except for that pesky 10 seconds. I can empathize.I'm sure it was a great experience mixing it up with the best runners in the country.

Hopefully we can meet up this afternoon.

From Little Bad Legs on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 11:20:05 from 68.186.0.46

Awesome! So great to read about your phenomenal race. A 2 minute PR in a half marathon is fantastic. Great job Paul!

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 11:27:57 from 72.250.218.114

Congratulations! Chad was telling me this morning about your adventures with the cold, and I remembered that you've never had a bad race from catching one - or at least I do not remember you having a bad race for that reason. Looks like this race was no exception. 53rd place racing against everybody and their dog in the US is actually really good.

From Paul on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 11:31:26 from 64.134.160.157

I forgot to mention the cold in the race report...I think I managed to hold it off with sheer will and about 12 packets of Emergen-C. Woke up today feeling pretty good. I may be sick tomorrow, but the delay was enough.

From jtshad on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 11:46:31 from 69.20.183.178

Wow, amazing and congrats on the new legit course PR! You are a very strong and runner and a great motivation to so many people.

From Holt on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 11:48:32 from 67.2.254.133

As always... Awesome job! You are the man!

From Bonnie on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 12:53:09 from 64.119.33.134

Congratulations on the PR! Impressive.

From Jake K on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 13:50:07 from 184.49.228.79

You guys should see the fan club Paul has going at the hospitality suite. He's the honorary mayor of Duluth this weekend!

From Jason D on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 14:10:59 from 166.137.89.171

Congratulations, Paul. Glad to see the fire has been reignited. Sounds like you have some fine company with you too. Enjoy the weekend.

From josse on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 14:17:04 from 174.232.128.195

I love reading the adventures of Paul it is very inspiring and look forward to reading the next one. I'm so glad you are perusing the OTQ again. Awesome job!

From Kendall on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 14:24:43 from 70.208.4.110

Great race...congrats on a well-timed PR! I think I read the Men's avg was 1:07 and change--wow!?!

From Matt Schreiber on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 15:05:51 from 66.17.102.185

Great race man and great report, too. That's awesome you could pull that big of a PR at such a big race. Huge congrats!

From Dave Taylor on Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 17:41:29 from 174.23.77.96

Wow. Inspiring report.

From Jake K on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 14:54:24 from 67.177.11.154

I was really hoping you'd crack 66. I knew you'd be close. You gave it a good shot, though. Really smart running.

Not really on topic, but whatever... I joined this blog just after your run in Boston. I remember thinking "wait, this guy ran 2:17, why can't I do that too?" And don't take that as a knock, it just opened my eyes and inspired me to shoot higher. So I always owe you something for that. And you've always set a great example of smart training and being a tough racer. I admire that.

It was fun to hang out this weekend and compete with you again. Keep at it... I know you've got another 2:17 in you.

From scottkeate on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 15:48:23 from 71.199.4.146

Great report! Congratulations on the new PR and for inspiring the rest of us to keep pushing. I have tremendous respect for you as an athlete and person. Thank you!

From James on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 17:33:57 from 97.126.222.57

Congrats on an awesome race brother!

From allie on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 18:00:57 from 97.126.220.58

great race, paul. congrats!

From Cody on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 20:37:04 from 76.27.36.99

Great race Paul! Very smart not to get sucked out and pay for it later. Very inspiring to read about your successes. Well done.

From Fritz on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 20:56:54 from 67.177.4.64

Great job Paul! To crush your PR after umpteen halfs must feel pretty good. Can't wait to see how this translates to future races.

From Jon on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 21:54:00 from 107.203.52.135

Excellent race, Paul, as always.

From Paul on Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 11:21:49 from 65.114.209.66

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I find a lot of people on this blog pretty inspiring, and it helps to have other hard workers around and see the success of other people in order to find the motivation to keep training.

From Superfly on Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 15:44:53 from 74.211.21.81

Awesome race Paul. Wish you would have got the $500 but still awesome.

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