Race Report: 2009 Worldwide Half

Hey, did you guys know this weekend was the Worldwide Festival of Races? You can still register and participate if you want, I believe! Last year, I ran the Festival’s 10K, but this year, the half-marathon lined up quite nicely with my taper for Marine Corps.

Like last year, I ran alone – or, rather, with the running club, who had no idea that a competition was happening in our midst. I started early, before the bulk of the group arrived, so it was only with the last six miles that I had company. Nobody was running at my particular pace today, so I ran by myself anyway. It was cold today; we’re actually in a frost advisory! I had to wear cold weather gear for the first time this season, including gloves and a hat. Other than eliciting a frequent cough from my unadjusted lungs, though, the cold didn’t bother me much until I had to stop running at the end. We ran through cemeteries as our planned course today – appropriate for the season, though it might have been nicer to have more dead leaves crackling underfoot. It feels like we jumped straight from our very mild summer directly into the shivers, but that’s probably due mostly to the aforementioned mildness; when your temps rarely break the eighties, it’s easy not to notice when they start sliding into the forties more often than the sixties.

The race was uneventful, which seems sort of boring, but when taken in context of being one of my last runs before the marathon, boring is exactly what I want right now. Let’s save excitement for another time, shall we? I also didn’t push the pace as much as I might have, for the same reason. This is taper time, and I’m a more cautious trainer than I was before the first marathon. Dull = awesome, as far as I’m concerned right now!

I did a mile warm-up before running the half-marathon distance, which both seemed the wisest course and also fit in with the training plan’s dictated fourteen miles for the day. The race distance took me 1:51:53 to complete – a respectable time for my efforts, I think. No banana or bagel tables after a virtual race, but we hit a nearby coffeehouse, which was more my speed, anyway.

Now, to enjoy my virtual goodie bag! If you run any of the races (there’s a 5K!), let me know!