At long last, sub 2:00 HM!

connect.garmin.com/activ
ity/55846426 

As I said in my previous blog, I wasn't particularly feeling the race mojo - still mentally recovering from the marathon. 

Pre-race: 
I got to Confederation Park, a little worried about getting to the start, as I was a bit gun shy about shuttle buses after the marathon debacle, and there was a lineup of buses ready to go. THAT'S THE WAY IT SHOULD BE DONE! 

Start: 
Determined to conquer the pace demons, the opening kilometers were slightly faster than goal pace, but I knew there was a giant downhill coming up. Passed the 2:15 bunny, who was ahead of where I started, for some reason. 

The giant downhill: 
Effortless 5:00/km pace. AMAZING. I actually could have gone faster, but wasn't 40 s/km faster than goal pace fast enough? Clocked a smoking 4:58/km in the 6th km. Most of this section, Beth was about 10 m in front of me, she is much stronger than me on downhills. 

10K, I checked my Garmin and saw the incredible time of 53:20, unexpectedly beating my ancient PR of 56:16 set waaaay back in 2008 in my very first 10K. 

12K. Running the tangents. Beth said something about running a 6:00/km pace the rest of the way and still making it under 2:00. Something happened and I got ahead after exiting the highway. 

15K. Made the turn onto the lakefront path. Familiar territory. I run here at least once, sometimes twice a week. 

16K water station. Path packed on both sides with exuberant, cheering high school kids. What a boost! 

17K. The km markers are bang on with my Garmin up to this point, but I started to press lap at every km sign. I figure holding a nice, comfortable 5:40 pace will get me to my goal, however, I could not let myself forget that nothing is a done deal until the finish line is crossed. 

20K. Sudden turn onto loose rocks, unpaved path. WTF?!?!! Fortunately this is short but I came off the unpaved path and there was a slight uphill. AGGH! Where the hell is the finish line? 

Finally saw the finish line when the Garmin was showing WELL over 21.1 kms. I saw a 2 on the clock and thought "oh NO, NO NO NO!" but then realized the clock was for the full marathoners. 

It's been a long road getting from there to here...but I am finally a sub 2:00 half marathoner! I've PR'd my last 4 races...but ready to transition into winter base building in order to get ready for even bigger and better running adventures in 2011. 

Official chip time: 1:57:26 
Field Placement: 635 / 1359 (46.7%) 
Age group: 30 – 34 
Group Placement: 38 / 97 (39.2%) 
Gender Placement: 261 / 782 (33.4%)