Horsetooth Half Marathon Race Report

I ran the Horsetooth Half Marathon yesterday here in Ft. Collins and here's the race report that goes with it.

I woke up around 4:00 or so in the morning, just like I usually do, made my way to my gym and sat in the hot tub there for about 5 minutes or so, just to help loosen me up a little. I showered there and made my way to the place where I work, it's where I usually base all my longer runs and races out of anyways, and wanted everything to be the same as it usually is. I posted on RW for a few, got changed into my clothes, had a little coffee and answered some text messages. One asked what my goal time for the race was, and I realized that I hadn't really set one. Last year I ran this race in 1:37:49 and finished 73rd. It was THE race I had been training for too. This year it was just a little half marathon 3 weeks before my full marathon. Just a training run. Plus, on this course, how many minutes could I really pick up. I'm sure I'm a better runner this year, but it's still a tough course where the uphills are going to make your avg. pace climb. Anyways, I thought about how I was going to run this race after getting that text. And I decided that after the top of the 2nd hill, I was just going to cut it loose with all I had. Leaving me two more hills and about 5 miles of flat after Dam Hill. hve been training for a marathon, and it shouldn't be that big of a deal to be able to run 13.1 pretty close to all out. The most nervous part for me was that the course was the same as last year, the weather was too. Only one thing had changed and that was me, and it was time to find out how much I had improved. I met up with John Bender for a little while at the start line, told him my plan, we joked around for a while, then it was time for the race to start.

That is the race profile it you haven't seen it before. As the gun sounded and off we went, I started at the front and was passed by about 3/4 of the field in the first 1/4 mile. Pictured below is the first mile or so of the race.

I took it easy on Mile 1, clocking an 8:06 mile. The first hill is a bitch, and it eats you up. 8:14 at Mile 2. Not so much taking it easy, as much as the hills really influencing my pace. Mile 3 was 6:30. Upon reaching the first aid station between Mile 3 and 4 I took 1 of the 2 Gu packs that I brought. I learned during this race, that gel packs are not for me during a half marathon. At that speed, all they do is upset your stomach. I never took the other pack I brought. Note as well, I carried my own water, so I never even stopped at an aid station, Mile 4 was at 6:59, as I started up Dam Hill during that mile. Mile 5 netted a 6:57 mile and the start of the long run to Bingham Hill Road. Mile 6 was at 6:42, with the tail end of that mile starting the climb up Bingham Hill. Around Mile 4, me, another guy, and a girl started running together, and as we made the accent up Bingham Hill, we were talking a little, and it really helped us all I think. Mile 7 was at 7:19 with the majority of it taking the hills. As we came over the 2nd to last hill on Bingham and started the decent, my legs got a little rubbery but came back to me pretty quickly. Mile 8 was 7:26. Now from here on out, it's a gentle slight decent, and I'm just trying to do 7 something miles to get myself to the finish. Last year on the stretch that leads you from Overland and the start of the bike trail (about mile 9), I was probably in about 25th place when we hit that aid station. I finshed 73rd. I gave up that many spots in the last 4 miles. This year I lost 5 and gained 2 back. Mile 9 was 7:08, Mile 10 was 7:12, Mile 11 was 7:17, Mile 12 was 7:27, and Mile 13 was 7:22. And 43 seconds or so for the last .10. I finished in 66th place, up 7 spots from last year. And the total time was 1:35:34, just 29 seconds of my half marathon PR, and that was on a very flat course.

I think I could have probably been closer to about 1:32-1:33 on a flat even course, I also think my PR goes down with maybe 1 more days rest, or maybe a Thursday off, run a little Friday and take Saturday off approach. I might play with that a little next time. All and all, it was possibly the best race I've run to date. I am very close to where I want to be with my running right now. At this point I'm pretty much as ready as I can get for May 4th. I'll do big miles again this week, run a 22 miler on Sunday then taper. I'm very happy with yesterdays run, and very encouraged with the results.

Have a good day folks.