1:28:01

I've made a bad habit out of showing up late to races lately, and the Parks Half Marathon was no exception. I'm a terrible estimator of time and it took a little longer to get there than I thought it would, plus I left late and still had to pick up my number. I arrived about a half hour before the race, picked up my number, and dropped off my bag. Then I headed over to the porta-potties and the start. By this time it was about 15 minutes before the start.

I waited in line for the porta-potties for a few minutes before it became obvious that I wasn't going to make it before the race began, so I just sucked it up and headed to the start. I had visions of PRing, but my late arrival and short warm up caused me to decide to run the race as a marathon pace effort.

The race started, and despite feeling like I went out controlled, I passed two miles in 12:38, about 20-25 seconds per mile faster than I wanted to be running. To be fair, though, the first two miles were so downhill it was like falling off a cliff. After about two miles, the race turned onto the path it would follow to the finish. I settled in as best I could given my inability to use the porta-potty before the race, and began to run 6:4X and 6:5X miles, which was more like it. About eight miles into the race, I was going to stop at a porta-potty on the course, but as I came up to it I saw it was occupied, so I pressed on. At 12 miles the course turned on to an unpaved section of the path, and I ran my slowest mile of the race, 7:00. I regained my focus and ran mile 13 in 6:44 and then the last .1 mile in 35 seconds to finish in 1:28:01.

Overall, I'm pleased with the race. Even after the fast start, I was able to settle into marathon pace and stay there for the entire race, with the slight lapse in the 12th mile. When I finished, I didn't feel too spent, and coming into the race I hadn't tapered and the week before and week of the race were two higher mileage weeks. The race bodes well for Richmond, which last week I registered for last week.