Boston mini Marathon

Down here in the south there is a little town called Boston Georgia that is about the size of a thimble but it is a quaint little country town.  Each year they have a town festival in October which always includes a ½ marathon.  Of course with Boston in the town name you can get a lot of interest in your race.  So they call the race the Boston Mini Marathon and it is does give most runners a laugh to see the name.

The course to me is perfect. No hard hills but not perfectly flat just enough up and down to keep it from being monotonous.  I don’t think anybody wants to be able to see the finish line of a ½ marathon from the turn around and have to stare at it for nearly an hour while it seemingly backs up from them all the time. 

So I did the race Saturday being some what conservative on the way out to make sure I did not have a meltdown like I did in the 20k two weeks ago.  I intended to run about 7:20 pace on the way out but was more intent on just running a good relaxed pace.  I ran all the way out with my friend Tom talking some to make sure our breathing was controlled and just enjoying the run.  We hit more miles at 7:10 than 7:20 but it felt ok.  As soon as we turned around we took a quick bathroom stop and headed out again.  I lost Tom after about 2 miles and stuck with 2 other runners then suddenly I was alone which was not the goal at all I slowed down somewhat hoping to get back in a group of runners but it was not to be. At 5k to go I decided to try to catch 3 guys who were just ahead of me but I just could not speed up. I was stuck at running miles about 7:00 the rest of the way back.  I and was really happy to run a negative split race with a strong finish and hope thing will continue to improve for m

 

Overall it went like this

7:23

7:18

7:12

7:10

7:19

7:08

7:33  pit stop

6:57

6:59

7:12

6:53

6:59

6:59

:45

 

Total 1:33:53