Jazz Half Marathon - A new PR - but not by much

Well, the Jazz Half marathon – I got a PR but not by much. I finished the race in 1:29:20 – that is a PR by 10 seconds.

I am not one to look a gift PR in the month but I wanted just a little bit more. Yes, that is greedy. Considering that I have not been training much and I got this PR on about 20 miles a week I really can’t complain. Also, this is the beginning of my marathon training. I think if I get a couple of good running months under my belt I should be able to drop this time by a couple of minutes. That is my goal anyway.

I met up with two guys at about mile 3. I jumped on one of their shoulders and and held for a couple of miles. At about mile 6 they seemed to slow so I took the lead. I would stay in the front for the next 4 miles. These guys stayed with me. We seemed to push each other the entire race. If I would have stayed in no man's land I might have started to fade earlier.

So, the race report. I got great weather. I tapered for about 2 days. I started out pretty strong. I started to fade at about mile 10. I got passed by three people from mile 11 to the end (one was a girl). I ran this race by heart rate most of the race. I only picked it up the last mile. I stayed at about 1 or 2 BPM higher than my previous LT runs. However, I was able to stretch out the distance.

All things considered I am pleased with this race. With a solid training plan, a lot of hard work and some gut wrenching determination I should be able to reach all of my running goals this season!