Run For Steem: Berry Half Marathon Race Recap

Happy Sunday!  I think I'm down to the wire to get in my #runforsteem post of the week, but I didn't want to miss out supporting @jumowa's challenge.  The latest challenge post is here in case you want to squeak by, too.  If you don't make it this week, definitely look out for the coming week!

My run for this week was my first half marathon of the year.  Berry College is where I went to school, and it is also where I did my first race ever 8 years ago.  It is always special to get back on campus, especially to get to experience so much of it during the course.  The weather was looking a little bit iffy the few days leading up to the race, but it ended up turning out to be perfect running weather.  Cool, but mostly clear and very little, if any, wind.

The campus is stunning, so if you're ever in the Rome, Georgia area definitely stop by for a visit.  The course is all on campus, which is nice to be able to run without any vehicular traffic at all.  @dksart always enjoys taking some pictures while we are there, so I'm sure he'll be sharing some more soon.  Here's a few to get just a small glimpse of the scenery:

So for the race itself I had been feeling very good about my preparations leading up to the day.  I was not using this race as a goal race, but more of a part of my training to see how much work I need to do before my April race.  It's hard not to want to go for it, though, when you get to the starting line. ;)

I think I got a little caught up in the crowd and ended up starting out a bit too fast for where I needed to be.  I pulled back a little, but just felt so darn good at the beginning that I just kind of cruised along without really sticking with my slower to start training strategy.  Still smiling at the 1.5 mile mark. ;)

I knew there were a few spots where the course went to gravel, so I wasn't surprised to lose a little speed from mile 6 to 7 since that was the first stretch that wasn't paved.  There was also a bit more of an incline through that portion of the course.  I gained some speed back for the next mile or so until we hit the second of the gravel portions.

Oh boy, that mile was a lot more uncomfortable than I remembered.  Some was smaller gravel that wasn't too hard to negotiate, but the larger portion of it was bigger and really hard to keep my footing.  I lost a good bit of time on that stretch, but more so it took all of the juice out of my legs trying to stay upright.  I was happy to get back to the solid path.  However, from about mile 10 on I started struggling.  You can tell in the graph from my Garmin that my last 2 miles were my slowest.

And I think the look that @dksart caught on my face as I was closing in on the finish line captured the discomfort I was feeling at the end.  Gotta love those unflattering race photos!!

I ended up crossing the line just over 2 hours.  Going in to the race I thought I might be able to get in closer to the 1:57 mark, but apparently it just wasn't in the cards for the day.  I ran as hard as I could for this particular race, so that's all we can ask for as runners, right?  I definitely earned my hardware and shirt, that's for sure.

Now I know I need to do some more training to get back under the 2 hour mark for the next one.  My training up to this point has felt pretty good, so I think it's time to crank it up a little bit.  As I always remember learning when I played sports in school, you play like you practice.  Time to practice my butt off so I can really lay it out next time!

I hope everyone else got in some good runs this weekend!  Check out the latest @runningproject post for some other great articles on running and vote for your favorite running author of the week!