Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Minneapolis Half Marathon

After a pathetic amount of running last week I celebrated Memorial Day by running the course for the Minneapolis Half Marathon. I'm pacing the 1:45 group which means I'm supposed to run even splits at about 8:01 per mile. Due to tangents and such this really means I need to run more like 7:57-7:59 per mile, which is what I did Monday, running 13.2 miles at 7:58 / mile. 

It was hot and I got a sweet sunburn on my shoulders where my other running singlets don't cover (it actually wasn't bad, but definitely pink). I was really proud off myself for writing down directions and then laminating them with packaging tape so I could put them in my pocket while I ran. I showed my wife and I was all, "isn't that great?" She looked at me like I was crazy because she thought I'd just laminated directions for how to get there.

After I explained to her how they were directions for the half marathon route she realized my genius of using packaging tape as a cheap alternative to buying a $300 laminating machine.

I'm nervous and excited to run this half marathon as a pacer--I'm pretty confident I can keep even splits, especially with the help of the Garmin 305--but it's a different kind of nervousness knowing other people are counting on you to run even splits to help them meet their goal.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Hi Nate,
Darn it! I wish you were pacing the 1:50 group! Is there a 1:50 pacing group? My best half time is 1:54...I just don't know if I could PR by 9 minutes this time:( Have you ever run this course before? Someone told me that there is a part of it that has cobble stone...yuck, I hate running on that stuff! I will try to get to your booth on Friday if I am the one to pick up my race packet. Otherwise I will for sure see you in line at least to say hi and to get a picture:)

Don't worry about the pacing...you are going to do great! I think it is awesome that you will be helping people to stay on task and meet their goals:) I have had wonderful experiences with all of my pacers! See you there!