1:26:20 (6:35/mile)
12th overall (out of 174)
3rd in age (out of 15)

Who trains for half marathons anyways?

Race report to come soon. Topics to include:

Re-live first date with Misty.
cool morning, beautiful day. good cause.
5K with half, speed demons all ran half, should have run 5K
First few miles just under 6:30. Got tired
People who race half marathons train for it. Me? I don’t.

47:16 (6:20/mi)
19th place overall (out of 222)
1st in age (out of 10)

I honestly did not know I was running this race until about a week beforehand. The JCC cross country team officially starts practice on Aug 1, and this race is our official ‘first practice’. I had spent the week beforehand in WI with my girlfriend and would be spending the following week in WI with my family. I was back in town for 36 hours unpacking, packing, doing laundry and going to 3 different parties. It was a wild day and a half, why not race a 12K?…
The 12K (a little over 7 miles) distance is wierd, yes, but it is because it is run ‘around’ Clark Lake, a nice all-sports lake south of Jackson. A very popular and beautiful lake , actually. I actually ran this race 3 years ago and ran a 46:02. But I am sure I had been training for shorter distances then. Thats my excuse.
I have been training for my 50+ mile Relay for Life attempt and so I have been doing lots of 15+ mile slow runs. The idea of a 7.3 mile tempo run was not something I really planned on. The first mile I swear felt like is was 2 miles, and I was already tried after a 6:08 1st mile split. I just tried to hang on and not completely fall apart. Averaging 6:20 for the entire race is pretty good for a guy who has not run this fast in MONTHS. You see, I hate speed work. I run the occasional 5K race for just that reason, speedwork. I am a runner more so than a racer these days.
One other thing, I would have to say this was the lamest race t-shirt I have ever recieved. It was fluorescent orange and said simply (is a silly font) ‘Run Clark Lake 2009′. Thats it, no design, no pic. Just small words on a ‘loud’ color shirt. One of those shorts I will wear only once, the day after the race only because that is tradition.