First Half Marathon!

28th St. Louis Track Club Half Marathon

It was inevitable. After a few month of training (should have done more) I decided to try a half marathon. Yes, 13.1 miles (21 km) 6918 feet, anyway you measure the distance its a long way!!

The run was in St. Louis in Clayton and ran through Forest Park most of the route. It was more hilly than I expected and quite warm for November 11th. The race started at 8:oo am sharp with over 400 participates at the start. I didn't have my Garmin (see Chicago Urbanathon blog below) but some of the check points had digital clocks to measure your progress. I drank two Ensures before the start and felt good at the 6.5 mile mark, pacing myself at a constant 9 minute mile. Toward the second loop as we climbed more hills I slowed down a bit continued on my pace to finish before two hours. The last two miles were painful as my body had never gone this far before while running. My mind wanted to finish but the body wanted to stop now!!

I finished with a time of 1:55:08. This was good as my goal was to finish under two hours and I kept the pace below 9 minutes.

Next goal is the full marathon baby - 26.2 miles ( 42 km) Nothing schedule yet....

Brett

the red horse