My race finish times are still higher than I want, though I am improving.
What did you think I meant?
The Fayetteville Half Marathon was held on the same course as the St. Jude 10K that I ran in August. The Lake Fayetteville trail is beautiful in the Fall and the weather was perfect. This time we got to race around the lake twice. Plugging that earlier 10K time into an online calculator gave me a projection of 1:41:35 for this race. Since that 10K though, I have had some good training and I thought a 1:40 goal was within reach. I did better than that, finishing in 1:37:15.
Caution, nerd at work
My runner friend, Abrena, ran the race too; she was 2nd place overall female, and beat me handily too. Congratulations Abrena!
She told me after the race that her Garmin showed the course to be short, only 12.9 miles. I usually scoff at Garmin reports, but that is usually because the Garmin tells people that the course is too long and they really ran faster. You can make a lot of money building gadgets that tell people what they want to hear.
Her watch was saying the opposite, though. So, I measured the course online with Google maps and it came out just right. Abrena, I think you are just in better shape than you realized. That bodes well for your Memphis Marathon next month, good luck!
For the record, I don't really trust Google maps that much either. Though, I used it once to measure the Arkansas Razorback track circumference and it measured 399.9 meters. Good enough.
Old guys
I was passed at mile 10 by an old guy. He said he had been chasing me for 5 miles. I knew what he meant. We had made eye contact at an out-and-back section near mile 5. Runners are always on the lookout for others ahead/behind who appear to be in their age groups. We are competitive that way.
He didn't worry me though, he was behind me, and clearly older than me. Clearly. At mile 10, he passed me, but still, he was obviously older than me. Obviously.
I never caught him again; he finished about 20 seconds in front of me. Inconceivably, he is 2 years younger than me. Inconceivably! As it happens though, he finished 3rd in the Masters awards and I was "first" in my age group.
Perhaps it is time to roll out my long-term strategy for continued success in my age group:
