My PDR 2005

it has been too long since I last blogged, so here is a race report for the Philadelphia Distance Run, which I ran this past sunday. My first competitive (if you can call it that... maybe organized is a better word) race since high school was last years PDR, so this was the only race I have ever run twice. Granted, the course had changed, but the city and distance were the same.

My plan for the race was to run the first half at 7:30 min/mile pace and then pick it up to 7:15 or 7:00 after 7 or 8 miles. I think I prepared for the race pretty well, ate well for a few days leading up to the race, rested well for a couple days, and had a clif bar about an hour before the race starts. So i felt that my goals were pretty reasonable. As far as a time goal, I was hoping to get a PR, which i think is 1:37:37, but under 1:36 would have been sweet.

This was the first race I had ever run that had corrals based on times for each runner. my first experience wasn't the best because the corral I was in, #2, wasn't big enough to fit everybody so i started outside the corral and jumped in a little after the gun went off. About a mile in, I caught up with a fellow philly runner, who I ran with for a bit, and then we went our seperate ways. I missed the 1st and 3rd mile marker but I ran the first 4 miles in about 7:18 each, which I was very happy with. At this point in the race i wasn't even winded, but I was sweating quite a bit. The temperature was cool (i would have preferred about 10 degrees cooler), but the sun was pretty bright so i think it took a lot out of me. After the first quick 4 miles, I finally settled into a 7:30 pace. I kept this pace up until around mile 9 when I started to die a bit. The strange thing was, from mile 9 - 13.1, I thought I was running progressively faster and faster, but it turns out I was running progressively slower and slower.

I am really not sure quite why this happened, possibly because I am just not in good enough shape, perhaps I am not used to the clif energy drink I started using in the past month, or perhaps I just didn't have it in me today. the race certainly wasn't a disappointment, because I think I ran about as well as I could have that day. my chip time was 1:39:13 which is about a minute and a half slower than my Caesar Rodney PR, but I was pretty happy with the race.

The sad part about the race was that this race report was so boring. NOTE TO SELF: don't write race reports when incredibly tired.