Rock n Roll Half Marathon—Humble Pie 3/22/2015

The fast course I loved was no more.  The new course involved multiple climbs, which required pace management.

[2015 course]

"A" race was Boston on 4/20/2014.  I had 29 days to recover and was on week 11 of training program for.  Body parts were tired and tight the day before Rock n Roll but improved by race morning.  I decided
1.  go for PR (7:03 mile/min pace)
2.  not to dig too deeply.

Garmin 310xt was set at 7:00 pace.

_fast start
The start was awesome from corral 1.  Last time I ran this well was 2014 Rock n Roll.  I ignored the electronic pacer and kept up with the few runners around me.  I was way over my limitation, but this was a “C” race--might as well confirm the boundary.   Today would be a success if I could hold a decent pace ‘til 10k mark. 

 [I was 5 seconds behind the leader]

Mile 3.  Garmin said 70 seconds too fast.  I throttled back. 

Mile 9.  I kept pace but was laboring by this time.

Then wheels fell off after the climb.  I didn't struggle.  I watched people passing me during the final 5k.  I held 8 min/mile but felt much slower.

I came in 4 minutes behind goal, similar to Cowtown but with very positive split.

Rob attempted 90 min finish.  Missed it by < 1 min.  He improved a lot last year.

_#’s
place: 226 out of 8486
5 k  21:11
10 k  43:07
10 mi 1:11:30Pace:  7:17 min/mile
Chip Time:   01:35:18
Clock Time:  01:35:23

_aftermath
I was disappointed about missing the goal but proud being able to predict the outcome at mile 2.  Hopefully this little fun wouldn't cost many minutes at Boston.

I was happy for Rob but disappointed to miss post-race brunch with Casey.
Bumping into Kurt was a nice surprise.  We laughed at our very positive splits over a beer.

_3 hrs after the race
I finished installing motion sensor light in the garage before enjoying tofu Korean noodles with a Cousera game theory course.  I planned chores before meeting Penny and Kelsey for dinner: laundry, Cayman PCM file display issue, uploading jukebox, troubleshooting USB audio, resolving Rakuten issue, cleaning up living room, maintaining swimming pool.  Life goes on.  I could keep only so many balls in the air.

I possess too many possessions.

Father started a new round of chemo.  I wanted to know how he was doing.