Applefest 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday was our big race this fall, a 1/2 marathon in Hollis, NH. The weather was far from a typical New England fall day. Race time was 10:00 to probably allow people from Mass to get to the race.

It was already sunny and 70 degrees when Katie and I left our house around 7:45 - not a good sign!

The temperature was at least 80 degrees by the time the race began, but I still decided to shoot for my goal of 1:30. The race course is quite hilly (see pic below), and the first half of the course is mostly downhill. By the midpoint I was still right on pace: 44:47, but I knew what was coming.

However, soon after that the heat and humidity began getting to me and then the hills began. My pace went from a little under 7:00 to over 7:30 pretty quickly. It seemed like I was constantly looking up at the next hill.

It didn't help that I started getting blisters on my toes - I need to remember not to wear my tri shoes for longer races next time!

I guess the good news is that the heat and humidity seemed to get to everyone - quite a few people were walking some of the hills. I finished in a time of 1:36:42, which was surprisingly good enough for 32nd overall and 2nd in my age group, winning us an apple pie! The same time the previous year would have put me 69th place. Katie finished in just under 2 hours (1:59:27), which was her goal!

While in line for food after the race, Katie and I talked to another runner who ran the course two weeks ago in training and was six minutes faster than he was on race day. He said the temp in training was around 60 degrees. That 20-30 degree change made a big difference.

Considering the weather conditions, it was a good day of racing. I set a PR by two minutes on a pretty hilly course under far from ideal conditions. My IT band, which had been giving me some problems, was a non-factor. Now, I'll just have to find an early spring 1/2 to break 1:30 in.

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/10/nh/Sep25_28thAn_set1.shtml