Well, it's been a little while for a race review so might as well give ya one. This past weekend I ran the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon and Mini Marathon. But, I ran the Mini-Marathon portion of the race. The Half Course was flatter than the full and the prize money was top 5 deep but top runner in each age group would get a free pair of ASICS shoes so that would be just as good as money. I felt much better after bruising my tendon which only got me off my legs for two days back in early April so my training was back on track for Louisville. Felt really good the weeks leading up to it.
I went down with Beth, her husband Joel, Kayre, and Ginger from the church I go to. Beth being originally from Louisville had of course stay with her dad's house and her aunts' house. Her dad was going to run the full.
The expo was ok but not all that impressive to me. I've been to better. It made the Columbus Marathon Expo look like the Boston Marathon Expo. There were the typically small running clothing vendors and a few tables for marathon and other races. Only thing I liked was a table put on by BEEF where they gave me a Beef Cooking Recipe Book. I need to cook something in my new Crocpot.
Anyway, afterward we met the rest of Beth's family at this small tuscany restaurant on the westside of Louisville in a strip mall near a Wal-Mart. The food was pretty good but the service not so much. Took about an hour to get it and it wasn't that crowded in the restaurant for a friday night when we got our food around after 8:00. Got back to Beth's dad house and got to bed. I got up early since I wanted to be down there for the race early.
I warmed up for about 2 miles just to run around the start and the finish areas just to get familar with them. Went back to my vehicle in the parking garage nearby, stretched got my CRC jersey and flats on and proceeded to the start line before getting some strides in.
We took off right on time at 7:30. The first mile I wanted to feel a little bit comfortable and get myself in a good position. The top 8 were really up there there. From the results 1st to 9th place was from 1:02:40 to 1:06:07.
http://resultsarchive.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?pubID=3&rsID=126134
After that there was almost a 4 min separtation from 9th place to 10th so there weren't any more guys after that. Back to the race. My first mile was at 5:10 a couple seconds more than what pace I wanted but still felt pretty good. But from miles 1.5-4 I virtually ran alone but the guy who would finish 10th was behind me. 2nd mile I hit in 10:25 still felt pretty good. Ran into a little bit of wind blowing from the northeast and it was in the open part of the westside of Downtown but still hit 3 miles at 15:42. I finally caught up to the marathon leaders and one other guy running the half marathon and we hit the 4 miles at 21:08.
After many zig zags around the streets we hit the 5 mile mark around 26:35. Little slow than I wanted and try to pick it up and hopefully the marathon guys would pace me like they did for a little while when I last ran here in Louisville 4 years ago. We were at 32:02 at the 6 mile mark and hit 33:05 at 10K still feeling good. We ran south towards Churchill Downs and hit 7 miles at 37:20 glad it picked up a bit when we went down in a straight line on 4th Street. There was a crowd surrounding the turn for a little bit before we went into Churchill Downs at hit 8 miles at 42:40, I was still on a 5:20 pace hoping for the best after we got out of churchill. We entered in through a tunnel which goes under the dirt track and took us into the infield where there were roads that made into circles. It was pretty confusing but there were arrows to point along the way. I wished there were volunteers there to help us out because it would have been much easier especially for the lead runners in the half and full who are up there. The small turns slowed down our momentum. We finally ended up going out the back way and crossing back over to Central Ave where the Full Marathoners turned right and headed south on 3rd Street while the half marathoners headed north on 3rd towards the finish. The Kenyans headed south. Could have used them for the last 4 or more miles.
The other half marathoner that was behind me that finished 10th was able to catch up with me and the other guy who finished 12th and we were together for about 1 1/2. The 9 mile mark was hit at 48:20. Churchill Downs defintely slowed down our mometinum which allowed the 10th place guy to catch us. We hit 10 miles around 53:50. 10th place guy took off and me and the other guy battled it out for 11th. The 11 mile mark was hit in 59:20. I was able to speed up and break away from the 12th place guy in order to have a good finish which I ran the last 2.1 in 11:11 which was a 5:20 pace. Which I ran that pace in miles 8-11. After turning on Main Street around 12.4 miles or 20K I strided out to the turn on Preston Street to the finish in 1:10:39. 3rd fastest half marathon ever after running 10 of them lifetime. Let it was 17 seconds under my PR. Still was very happy with my effort despite those bad miles wished there were a couple more guys in that race who would have ran 1:07-1:10 and the result could have been different. Who knows. But, after the whole injury and my after fiasco last summer and fall I was pleased and satisified with my effort and result.
However, I found out later I finished 2nd in my age group(30-34) and missed getting free pair of shoes. O well I least I got my free beer at the beer tent. :) I cooled down for about 3 miles and waited around to cheer the rest of my church friends who were running the half. They finished around 2:11. We had a cookout at Beth's dad with their family and friends and I got to drive his 89 Corvette!! It was pretty sweet. I never driven a Vette before though I'm a Ford Mustang guy but Corvettes are awesome rides. I decided to head back see some friends and celebrate their birthdays.
All in all a really good weekend with friends. As for the race it shows how far I've come back from being banged up and hurt all of last summer and fall and what I need to do in order to have a MONSTER Summer and Fall of training and racing with some goals in mind. Stay Tuned, Thanks for reading, and that's my two cents!!!
P.S.- The Jim Carrey vs. Adam Sandler post is coming up next. This one will be separated into 3 parts it's so good!!
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