My Caesar Rodney 2007

Today was the Caesar Rodney half marathon in Wilmington, DE. For those that don't know, it starts in downtown Wilmington, somehow winds up and down all hills in Delaware, and then ends up essentially back where you started. This is my 3rd year running Caesar Rodney. My first year I ran my best half marathon to date (1:37:37), but last year, as with many of my races last year, was about 8 minutes slower. My training has been pretty consistent, but consistently low mileage (in the low 20s per week), but I have been getting in some sort of interval work (either 800s or miles) every other week. I had quite mixed feelings going into the race this morning... confident because I had done more interval work in the last six months than I have in my life, but quite nervous because of the worries that my mileage hasn't been high enough.

I didn't get much sleep because we needed to go out for some well-deserved celebrating Saturday night and the Bush consipiracy against all democrats (i.e., moving up daylight savings time... actually it is in the name of saving energy, so I can't fault him for trying, though I would like to... and I think I heard on NPR that the amount energy expended to update software around the US for the new daylight savings time may offset the savings... either way, i hope it saves a little), but I did grab a quick nap saturday afternoon so I figured I would be fine. I got out the door to the race without any problems, but I was still a bit nervous for the race.

When I got to Wilmington, I met up with a bunch of Philly Runners and tried to find a few people to run with. Alex G and Steve G were around my pace so the plan was to run the first few miles with them and then reasses and adjust pace from there. In the past couple years, I have always started off way to fast and then died at the end so my goal was to start at around 7:25 miles and work my way down from there. After the cannon went off to signal the start, the first miles flew by in just over 7:00 min/mile pace. I was concerned because I had a feeling I knew where this story would end, but sadly I forged ahead. At some point Steve G. left us for a quicker pace. Miles 4-8 are quite hilly and my pace dropped down to about 7:35 through the hills. Alex and I split up around mile 5 and I embarked on the last 8 miles alone. I eventually caught back up to Steve G (maybe around mile 8) and started seeing some of the other faster PRs (the course doubles back on itself) flying by.

From 9 to 12 the course is mostly down the hills we just climbed and I knew I would pick up some time there. The downhills were pretty tough on my shins and I my feet felt quite heavy pounding into the pavement. After mile 12 I knew I was going to get a personal record (PR), but was too scared to look at my watch to actually figure out how my overall time was shaping up. It seemed easier to just monitor each mile and keep it at the right pace, which at this point of the race was around 7:10, than to look at the big picture of an overall time. I turned the final corner and climbed a hill that seemed like a 100% grade and a million miles long. I finally crossed the finish line in around 1:35:21 (not official), which is about a 2 minute PR. The team I was running on, The Electronic Karate Blitzkrieg Of Destruction (TEKBOD for short) came in first and I got a blinking medal. Quite blingy. I will probably wear it around to complement my Heelys.

So I finally beat a time from about 2 years ago. My half marathon PR had been looming over my head for 4 races and it is quite a relief to finally break it. It feels good to be back to where I was in 2005 and a PR at Broad Street would be icing on my running the past 6 months (10k PR, Half marathon PR, and 10 mile PR??).

I wanted also to announce congratulations to Kristin for finishing the bar exam. I saw her studying everyday for 2 or 3 months on top of working full time. For maintaining her sanity, she deserves a medal... perhaps she can have the flashy bling I received today. Anyway... congrats Kristin, I am so proud of you!!