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Florida Beach Halfathon

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Location:

St. Petersburg,FL,

Member Since:

Dec 30, 2014

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

  • 5k - 3/8/14 - Armadillo Run - 15:58
  • 10k - 2/7/15 - BDR, Safety Harbor - 33:17
  • 15k - 2/21/15 - Gasparilla - 51:05
  • 1/2 - 12/14/14 - Holiday Halfathon - 1:13:31
  • Marathon - 10/04/15 - Twin Cities - 2:38:46

Short-Term Running Goals:

2016 Races

Clearwater Halfathon - Jan 11
Donna Hicken Marathon - Feb 14
Gasparilla 15k - Feb 20
Florida Beach Halfathon - Mar 6
??? Chicago Marathon ???

Long-Term Running Goals:

Find balance. Run with my girls. Break 15 in the 5k.

Personal:

Born in 1973 in Southern California.

Ran in high school for Arcadia. They have a famous cross-country team now. In my day, we were famous for dodging our coach during runs.

Over the next 15 years I ran very little, but life was awesome. I lived mostly in Northern California, where I met my wife. We moved back to her native state of Florida in 2005, where I gradually started running more seriously.

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: Florida Beach Halfathon (13.109 Miles) 01:15:02, Place overall: 6, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.0013.000.000.0017.00

Today was the last half-marathon in a series that began in late October. I went into the race a bit flat today, and not as focused as usual, but I was motivated to run hard in order to maintain my place in the series standings.

I've been guilty of some long race reports, so I'm going to keep this one under control. Also, it would be easy to make this into a complainfest.

I'm actually very satisfied with my time, despite running 1:30 faster three months ago. Although the temperature was not bad (low-70s), the dewpoint was also pegged at 70 degrees, which is not fun for racing.

As expected, the race went out fast, and I ran my first 3 miles faster than I ever have in a half in order to stay within reach of my guys. Hard to say if this was a mistake or not. After the first miles, I slowed, almost metronomically, for the next 4 miles or so, until I cratered in the low 5:50s.

Luckily for me, a similar scenario was playing out for everyone else as well. This race has long straightaways and it's easy to see where your competition is, so I knew I was about a minute behind the guy most likely to pass me in the standings.

In the last 5k I was able to gather myself for the final push. I finished plenty back, but held my spot in the standings by 13 seconds. Perhaps a hollow victory, since I finished well behind 3rd and 4th in the series, but I'll take it.

If this sounds  a bit negative, I wish it didn't- I was very happy with my time and focus. It was simply the experience of running this race that was deeply unpleasant. Probably in a couple days I'll be talking up how awesome it was.

Splits:

  1. 5:29
  2. 5:35
  3. 5:34
  4. 5:39
  5. 5:44
  6. 5:49
  7. 5:53
  8. 5:48
  9. 5:50
  10. 5:56
  11. 5:44
  12. 5:46
  13. 5:38

.1 ~5:25 pace

 

Comments
From Rob Murphy on Sun, Mar 22, 2015 at 13:30:53 from 24.10.247.181

1:15 is only good for 6th? That race has taken a jump in quality this year.

Nice race report and I'm sure you'll home to see this as a good effort. It's so hard to race longer than a 5k in Florida when the heat and humidity start to climb.

From Jason D on Sun, Mar 22, 2015 at 16:06:01 from 68.80.27.222

Good race, Drew. Mind of the runner at the end of the report there. I sometimes finish a workout or a race and think "well, that was just okay." But when I get a little distance I realize it was better than I thought. Given the heat and dew point you really weren't that far from December. That's racing in Florida I guess.

From Bret on Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 07:01:44 from 216.234.133.229

Nice job Drew. The racing conditions in Florida are hard to cope with both mentally and physically. In my experience, I actually "feel" worse mentally at the end of a race or workout in heat and humidity, and thus feel more negatively about the overall performance than I should. Seems like you held your own, and ran a relatively solid time (for you, ~ outstanding time compared to most runners). Give it a little time - and I think you will be more pleased with it than you are presently.

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