Race Report: Clayton 1/2 Marathon
March 19, 2006, Clayton, Missouri
It had been several years since I was able to do this popular half. The Clayton Center was bustling with a good number of runners for the 1/2 Marathon and 3K. The walkers were already on their way when I found a parking spot. I changed into shorts, although it was still in the low 30s.
After warming up with Matt, chatting with Diesel, and stretching with Jason, it was go-time. The run started off with a quick loop through the parking lot before putting us into the rolling hills of the Clayton business district. Mile 1 came awfully quickly -- "six eleven" said the volunteer. "No way", I said to myself. Things spread out as we headed mostly downhill to Forest Park. A good pack formed as the pace felt hard, but reasonable. We were running into a headwind. One guy got so caught up in drafting that his toe hit the bottom of my sole several times. Kind of annoying.
By the time we ran around the circle in the park, I had dropped behind the pack a little bit. It was motivating to run against the flow of the other runners and see how my friends were doing.
My splits told me I was having a pretty good run. I ate my banana Hammergel and gave Matt C a nod as he snapped a photo for the SBR video and reminded me that the female leader was ahead of me. Thanks.
The last few miles were on a slight incline, but the tailwind made it bearable. As the finish neared, I was within striking distance of a new personal best, but it would be very close.
On the second-to-last turn, bigriverrunning captured my final push to the finish. After avoiding disaster on the speed bump and seeing the clock, I knew I had done it -- 8 seconds faster than my PR. Yes!
After grabbing a drink, I headed back up the course to see Jason cruise to his own PR. Congratulations!
I thought I would jog in with Diesel, but he practically dropped me (what are we cycling?) with a fierce pace to the finish for what he described as his "first negative split ever." Nice!
Results: 39th out of 690 overall, 9th out of 68 age group.
It had been several years since I was able to do this popular half. The Clayton Center was bustling with a good number of runners for the 1/2 Marathon and 3K. The walkers were already on their way when I found a parking spot. I changed into shorts, although it was still in the low 30s.
After warming up with Matt, chatting with Diesel, and stretching with Jason, it was go-time. The run started off with a quick loop through the parking lot before putting us into the rolling hills of the Clayton business district. Mile 1 came awfully quickly -- "six eleven" said the volunteer. "No way", I said to myself. Things spread out as we headed mostly downhill to Forest Park. A good pack formed as the pace felt hard, but reasonable. We were running into a headwind. One guy got so caught up in drafting that his toe hit the bottom of my sole several times. Kind of annoying.
By the time we ran around the circle in the park, I had dropped behind the pack a little bit. It was motivating to run against the flow of the other runners and see how my friends were doing.
My splits told me I was having a pretty good run. I ate my banana Hammergel and gave Matt C a nod as he snapped a photo for the SBR video and reminded me that the female leader was ahead of me. Thanks.
The last few miles were on a slight incline, but the tailwind made it bearable. As the finish neared, I was within striking distance of a new personal best, but it would be very close.
On the second-to-last turn, bigriverrunning captured my final push to the finish. After avoiding disaster on the speed bump and seeing the clock, I knew I had done it -- 8 seconds faster than my PR. Yes!
After grabbing a drink, I headed back up the course to see Jason cruise to his own PR. Congratulations!
I thought I would jog in with Diesel, but he practically dropped me (what are we cycling?) with a fierce pace to the finish for what he described as his "first negative split ever." Nice!
Results: 39th out of 690 overall, 9th out of 68 age group.
posted by JPD at Monday, March 27, 2006
<< Home