2009 Parks Half Marathon

The day began with my ritual pre-race bagel and peanut butter and a cup of coffee. Sarah drops me off early at the Rockville metro, I grab some water, stretch and hang out before the race. More and more people start to arrive, and the crowd fills in. I see Mark Zimmerman with his 12:00+ pace group sign - he ran to the race start from home and he'll get a full marathon in today! As I'm waiting, Ken Earley - fellow XMPer and the pace leader for the 8:30-8:45 group - comes by and gets ready to race. I decide that I'll try to run with his pace group - 8:30s might be a little ambitious, but I'm feeling good and we have a fantastically cool day.

The race starts and the hills on Veirs Mill Road feel like nothing. I see my friend Sarah (with Penguini) around 1.75 miles into the race - they're course marshaling and I wave as I go by! I concentrate on running "fast but relaxed," just as a swim coach told me to swim when I was a distance swimmer. As we turn on the Rock Creek Trail, I'm cruising along - the 8:45s don't seem like a hard pace at all! "The Silencer" comes and goes and before I know it, 6 miles go by. I'm still under a 9 minute pace, and I'm consciously telling myself to stay relaxed. As I pass Mile 7, I wave to Ken Swab, who is also volunteering as a course marshall, but he doesn't see me.

As I pass Mile 10, I'm still feeling good, but noticeably more tired. I split 1:27 at the 10 mile, and we start our climb off of the Rock Creek Trail and towards Bethesda. In my head, I say to myself "It's game time CM" and I pick it up knowing that the next 3 miles are a steady uphill climb to Bethesda. I focus on the scenery to try to and take my mind off of my legs. I manage to continue the 8:45s for the last 3 miles, but I'm pushing in the last mile. The excitement grew when I saw the Bethesda Tunnel - the finish line is almost near! As I come around the corner, I hear George, Holly and Sarah but I don't see them - I'm too focused on the finish and not falling off the curb! I finish in 1:54:51 - a new PR for me by 9 minutes - and my first time under 2 hours at the half-marathon distance!

And a photo from after the race (I'm still smiling!):

Hmm... I probably didn't win the predicted time contest.

But with a PR, who cares?!

A couple stats:

2008 PHM: 2:23:58 (10:59 min/mile)

2009 PHM: 1:54:51 (8:46 min/mile)

2009 Predicted Time: 1:56:24

Also big congratuations to my friends who rocked up the PHM is style:

Hillary Swab 1:51:21

Ken Earley 1:52:10

Cathy Blessing 1:55:30

Emaad Burki 2:17:42

Mark Zimmerman 2:40:09

Christina Caravoulias 2:55:53

Nice running everyone!