Sunday, May 3, 2009

Long Branch 1/2 Marathon

What a day.

It started bright and early at 4:30, when I got up to make the 1hour drive down to Long Branch.


It wasn't raining when I started, and I was hoping to get the 1/2 in before the rain came.
When I finally got to the start/finish area, it took a whopping 1-1/2 hours! The police had traffic a mess, and the shuttle buses where mixed in with the us regular Joe's. I heard people talking that some had to wait at Monmouth Park for over a 1/2 hour for a bus. That's terrible, considering they have at least 3 major horse races a year, and should have a handle on the traffic. It was so bad, it delayed the start for over a 1/2 hour.
I did run into the blog crew before the race. BommaMomma & her husband, good ole Shoreturtle, Progman, JoyRun & her husband, and the world famous Ted & his wife. ST & Ted where not running, they were here to cheer on the runners. BM's husband was running the 1/2 & Ted's wife was running the full.

Everything at the start & at the baggage check, was awesome. Everything seemed to have a nice flow. I can't blame the people running the event for the delayed start. They announced that they were waiting on the police to start the race.

I started out a little behind the 3:30 pace group. I got as close as I could. It was pretty tight, with both the 1/2 & full marathoners. When we finally started a little after 8:00am, I was ready to go. I had to fight my way the first few miles to finally catch up to the pace group. The crowd support was awesome. Some house had the music cranking, there were a couple of bands playing in the 1st 3-4 miles. I'm sure that helped the full marathoners, when they came back around.
I wasn't sure how I was going to feel, since I bonked last Sunday. The more I thought about the pace I wanted to run, I really wasn't sure I could keep up a 8:00min/mile pace, for 13.1 miles!
Our 3:30 pace leader was awesome. I believe his name was Mike, and he was great. He had the group at 15secs. under goal, for the 1st half, leaving some wiggle room, for the 2nd half.
He was very encouraging to runners we came up on, making sure they were good, and telling trying to get them to hang with him. He was also very knowledgeable, talking to a 1st time 1/2'fer about what to wear. The runner was maybe 15-16, and was wearing all cotton, and Pacer Mike told him he would knock off probably 2 minutes to his time, wearing the proper clothing.
I was feeling really strong, and left the group just past the 1o mile mark.
I didn't want to start to kick that early, but I was feeling good, and went ahead by a little bit.
By the time I hit mile 13, I went for it, and crossed the finish at a PR of 1:43:20, according to my Garmin. I did the last mile in 7:22, fastest mile of the day. I guess trying to finish strong in my training runs paid off!
13.26 miles 1:43:20 (7:47 pace)
  1. 7:57
  2. 7:33
  3. 7:53
  4. 7:51
  5. 8:03
  6. 7:49
  7. 7:54
  8. 7:53
  9. 7:46
  10. 7:52
  11. 7:44
  12. 7:47
  13. 7:22

.22 1:51

I'll update the official results, when they post them!
Congrats to all who ran today, in the wet weather!

***UPDATE***

The official chip time is 1:43:18

40/284 M 40-44

381/4702

17 comments:

Marcy said...

Dayum! You were flying! Congrats on a fabulous race :-)

Marci said...

Awesome job.. you just keep getting faster and faster!

ShoreTurtle said...

Great job!

Unknown said...

Congrats dude!!! It was good to see you and you did a fantastic job pulling in on this race. Job well done!

joyRuN said...

Whew that's FAST! Great to see you.

Congrats on a great time & beating the rain :)

Progman2000 said...

Way to go dude - great to see you out there today.

Oz Runner said...

wow, great time...way to get a PR

Anonymous said...

Nice job Billl! Are you growing wings???
A

Denise said...

NICE PR!!! You did great!

Vava said...

Great time! And too bad about all that traffic/police snafu stuff at the beginning. You still kept your focus and ran a great race. Congratulations!

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Amazing, brother, simply amazing! And you were having ankle problems just a few short months ago? And now you're PRing in a half?

Sweet!

Congrats, man!

Michelle said...

What an awesome time and pace you ran!!

I always am in awe at the speediness of you guys!!

CONGRATS ON YOUR PR!!!

BommaMama said...

WOW WOW WOW that's all I can say Bill. AMAZING time. Congratulations!

Girl In Motion said...

I'm late to the party but want to add another Woohoo!! Great job on this race. Here's to more great races for 2009!

42at42 said...

You were right about not being able to keep up 8:00 pace. You blew it away. Great run, especially after the way the day started!!!

The Laminator said...

Congrats on your great race and PR! It's interesting that a couple of my friends who ran this race also did well running the first 10 miles with a pacer. I've never done that myself so I wonder what it's like. Great job battling the weather to run a very good race.

sRod said...

Whoa, looks like the race was very nice to you! Congrats!!!