The first official Half Marathon is in the books. Went to Las Vegas with a goal to break 1:50 and if things were going better than expected an outside chance to break 1:45 The final time was 1:45.21. Here are the per mile splits:
Mile 1 - 7:54
Mile 2 - 7:57
Mile 3 - 7:34
Mile 4 - 7:51
Mile 5 - 7:51
Mile 6 - 7:55
Mile 7 - 8:01
Mile 8 - 8:07
Mile 9 - 8:08
Mile 10 - 8:31
Mile 11 - 8:30
Mile 12 - 8:29
Mile 13 - 8:17
5K Time - 24.10
10K Time - 48.45
My pacing for the race was pretty good. To break 1:45 in a half marathon you need to average an 8:00 minute mile for the duration of the race. My plan was to go the first 10k at least at an 8:00 minute per mile pace then see what I had left for the last half of the race.
As we turned around in downtown Las Vegas I knew if I could hold my form together I would have a good shot at my goal. As it turns out, I just missed keeping my form together over the last three miles to miss the 1:45 mark by 21 seconds.
The race was a great experience. Running up the strip from Mandalay Bay to downtown Las Vegas and then back down the strip gives every runner an opportunity to experience the sites of Las Vegas in a way few others can. People were lined up on the side of the road for the complete 13.1 miles of the course. What an awesome experience.
So to sum up Las Vegas I am very pleased with my time. Here are some finishing stats.
Age Group (50 to 54) 78th of 676 participants
Overall 1125th of 19,186 Half Marathon participants.
8:03 overall per mile average pace
The next major goal race will be the Cowtown Marathon on Sunday, February 27.
Using the program Smart Coach on the Runner's World website I plugged the 1:45.21 half marathon time into the calculator and it projects a marathon time of 3:39.01.
The Cowtown Marathon is a Boston Marathon qualifying race. For the 50 to 54 male age group anyone running 3:35 or better qualifies for Boston. Since my projected time is 3:39 I am going to find 4 extra minutes in training and make qualifying for Boston an aggressive goal for Cowtown. A less aggressive and probably more realistic goal is to break 3:45 in my first attempt at 26.2 miles.
Until next time, good luck with your training, and remember anything is possible thru hard work and dedication.
