Accentuate the Negative

The Philadelphia Distance Run half-marathon was this morning. 13.1 miles. With some help from the beautiful running weather I finished just 3 minutes slower than my personal best of last year. Considering that my training this year has been much less intense than last year, I’m very happy with the results.

For the second year in a row I ran negative splits. For those of you who are not running geeks, that means I ran the second half of the race faster than the first half. Which is very good because it means I am pacing myself well and not falling apart at the end, something I often have a problem with. I did have a rough time at the mile 12 mark with about a mile to go, but I struggled through it and did all right.

Like I said, the weather was perfect - cool and sunny. The Schuylkill River (which the race circles) overflowed last night and the clean-up wasn’t quite complete. There was a point where you had to run about a half-mile in a quarter-inch of mud. Everyone’s backs were just splattered. I felt good for 12/13ths of the race and was in a good mood and joking and talking with people. Everybody seemed to be having fun. For some unknown reason the drummer who usually plays at mile 8 was missing! But the bagpipe player was there. These are two traditions that you come to expect at PDR.

Next up is the race I’ve actually been training for, the LBI 18 Miler on Long Beach Island, NJ October 10. Flat and straight from one end of the island to the other. I haven’t done well enduring the second half of this race. I have fallen apart at the 10-mile mark the last 2 years and dragged myself through the last 8. I’m hoping that by reducing the number of miles I’ve been running I won’t be worn out for the race. I’m also not as concerned about my time; I just want to have a strong second half.