Pittsburgh Half-Marathon 2014

Race: Pittsburgh Half-Marathon
Date: 04 May 2014
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Time: 1:54:59
Overall Rank: 2743 out of 14665
Age Group Rank: 265 out of 822
Results: http://results.xacte.com/?mid=79

Congrats to all the runners today at the Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon! This was the second year I did the half-marathon (13.1 miles). Last year I finished in 2:02:17 at a pace of 9:20 min/mile. This year, I finished in 1:54:59 at a pace of 8:46 min/mile. I felt pretty good the whole way. Dan and I kept up a good pace through mile 10 and then I started drifting behind him some. I was still feeling good but I may not have been covering as much distance with each step. I was actually super pleased that it was mile 10 and I had gotten that far without any discomfort or negative feelings. The finishline was 3 miles away and I knew I could make it. However, miles 11-12 seemed to take for ever. Stupid hill. Dan had left me by then (good job!) and so I was trying to pick out people ahead of me to catch up to. I know I'm not very competitive, so I was trying to gather that spirit within me. But I couldn't keep up with my targets and I lost interest (or vice versa). I found it easier to pick up the pace in the last mile as we went down hill, and by the time I passed the mile 13 marker, I was totally sprinting. I will be sore from that. Ok, now a nap is in order.