This morning's hilly and chilly Lake Benbrook Half Marathon was pretty tough but I survived and had a decent time to boot.The temperature was only 30 degrees at the start time, and with a 15+ mph wind, the wind chill was only 16-17.
I had a pretty good race - all things considered - and completed the 13.1 mile course (13.36 per GPS) in 1:57:37 for a 8:59/mi pace (8:48/mi per GPS). My time placed me at 94th out of 217 finishers - and 10th out of 22 in my age group. There were fewer runners than in the last two years - the weather no doubt kept participants away.
This is a PR for me for this course, but that is not saying much since I was just 9 seconds faster than last year and in 2008 I had a DNF due to my nagging ITBS. However, I was proud to have a very consistent pace for the entire 13+ miles. Most of the race was done with 8/1 run/walk. Time taken from start to the course's turn-around: 58:47; time from turn-around to finish: 58:50 ... not quite a negative split, but close!
My run started off okay, but there were a few obstacles. Without sweat to hold my PattStraps (a must for my IT bands on the hilly and often banked roads of this course) in place (and I probably didn't put them on tight enough), I had to stop twice (once for each leg) to re-adjust them. At Mile 1, we hit the expected low-water crossing of Benbrook's park road. Unexpectedly, there was quite a bit of flowing water and no way around it. I tried my best to jump over it, but still got one shoe soaked (brrr) in the frigid water. Not pleasant.
At Mile 5, there was ice on the road and we were directed to go off to the grass to avoid it. Unfortunately, the grass/dirt was wet and muddy so it was still not an optimal path.
0.65 miles later, "Nice Hill" was reached. Having taken a walk break less than 7 minutes earlier, my legs still felt pretty strong and I was able to power up the 75 feet of elevation change (in 0.11 miles) in just over a minute - not too bad for such a steep grade. I just "rode the downhill" (and rolling uphill) to Mile 6.66 (hmm) and walked at the turn-around water-stop.
The return leg was the same as the "out" with the same ice & mud dodging at Mile 8.25 as Mile 5 and same low-water crossing/river at Mile 12.3. Unfortunately, the water flow was worse the second time (maybe extra ice had melted further upstream?) and I got BOTH feet wet - and despite (or maybe because of) being warmed up after 12+ miles of running, my feet were VERY cold after the second dousing ... and my shoes were a lot heavier for being wet.
Luckily, I could already see the Benbrook YMCA (the start/finish was right behind it) and pushed myself to an 8:00/mi pace for the final mile.
So not the most fun race, but I'm glad I got in the required 13 miles for my Cowtown Marathon training plan and I got to see some friends at the start and finish - albeit briefly - we all left pretty soon after the race due to the bitter cold (and wet feet!)
Garmin Connect info: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23553989
Official results:http://www.runtimeracingservices.com/Results2.aspx?RaceID=780
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