Positives
-PR (1:07.48 Official Chip Time)
-Met some great people that I will stay in contact with including Phil Wharton, Austin Baillie(former Colorado runner, Top American), and my roommate for the weekend Tamas Kovacs(who will represent Hungary one day in the Olympics) and many more including getting to chat with Coach Greg McMillan after the race.
-Race organization was the best I have ever seen, they really care about every runner that is in the race.
-Gained experience getting on a plane traveling, staying in hotel, and then running in a huge race. The more you do this the easier it will come, I look forward to getting to do much, much more of this now.
-Thankful to God for being able to have safe travels and injury free race.
-Weather(colder then expected but 30's isn't too bad with gloves and base later for arms/core)
Negatives
-Feeling flat on race day (not sure why maybe the next 3 things listed)
-Bad sleeping pattern
-Bad race morning coffee (I know I'm addicted and hotel room coffee is horrible and no Starbucks are open at 4am in Texas)
-Bad timing of taking my gear off, another little thing that can add up. I was on the line standing for 15minutes due to going the wrong direction and wasn't allowed out for strides with the rest of the elites.
-Course (this could be a good and bad depending on who you ask) I didn't like the downhills because they would be followed by quick steep uphills and for a rhythm runner like myself I was in a constant battle to find my rhythm.
-Dropped my only GU at mile 6 and didn't take any fluids due to the cold. Never felt I bonked but didn't kick it in the last 5miles like I had planned.
Honestly the negatives add up to a positive. I know I was faster then I ran and I know next time I will be better prepared and ready for faster time. I really need to find a completely flat course(example Huntington Marathon Course) and go get in my own rhythm and run 1:06(will be the next step/goal). I was in a constant battle throughout the entire race. It might have been in some ways the best race I ever ran not because of the PR but because I didn't give in, I battled through a tough day for me. In the past I might have settled or mentally broke down but I stayed strong and fought through it.
The next step is to recovery and not push anything this week. Then I will have roughly 6 weeks for faster Tempo and bring in some faster Interval work to ready myself for the USA 15K Champs in Jacksonville, Fla where the field will be even more loaded with all the top USA guys. Before then I would love to do a Indoor 5K because my PR in that event is just slow and not anywhere near where it should be. I talked with Casey on the phone about all this. It hasn't been that I can't run a fast 5K or that I couldn't have ran a 1:07 in the past during my peak training, it was I just never got the chance to do so. So getting this Half Marathon PR does feel really good to have a start of seeing something solid on paper.
One last thing on the race that I HAVE to fix, I have to learn to get out faster. While I was out in 5:15 the lead pack was out in 4:30s. Most of those guys didn't run 4:30s for long but they did run fast, you have to put yourself out there early and be in the race or it is easy to fall into a flat feeling while racing. So I don't need to be out in 4:30 first mile but I do need to be out in contact of the lead group.
Thanks to everyone for the many emails, texts messages, and calls. Every message is very much appreciated!
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