New Balance Fall Classic Half Marathon Race Report

The New Balance Fall Classic Half Marathon was a great day for me! The weather was cold, windy and rainy but that didn't stop me from getting a PB. My previous PB was the Pacific Roadrunners First Half in 2000 in a time of 2:08:28 (back then I was in the 25-29 Age Group). That was also the first half marathon I ever ran. Since then I was able to run everything from a 2:10 all the way to a 2:20 a couple of years ago but never anything under 2:08:28.

My goals for Sunday were to:

run under 2:08
run 2:00
run under 2:00

The race started out quickly and mostly downhill as you can see by the chart below. Once the first 3kms were done, I settled into a solid sub 2hour pace. The course is 2 loops which can be boring but also helpful when trying to set a consistent pace. I started to slow down around the 16-18km mark but had 'banked' a few minutes with my faster start time so I still felt I could come in under the 2 hour time.

I used the pacing feature with my Garmin 405 which clocked me at 1:57:31 for the 21.1km distance. However, as many races are, this route I suspect was about 100m longer than the 21.1km distance. My net time was 1:58:15 which made me very happy!

Here is a photo from the official photographer's website. Thanks to the Sugoi warehouse sale and my flashy Newton racers, I think I look pretty stylish also. I don't care what anyone says, red and hot pink DO go together.

Now, I don't want to jinx my last race for 2009 but virtually ALL of my races this year have been PBs.

My previous Marathon PB is 4:32:56 from the Vancouver Marathon in 2001. This was also my first Marathon and I have never come close to beating that time since.

Will Florida be lucky for me?

Happy training!

|ronman Canada Race Report - Part 6 (Final Report but just the beginning)

Run – 42.2kms – 5:11:09 The run was slow and basically went as planned. The first 3kms of the run are in and around the finish line. When I was at about the 2km mark, I could hear Jordon Rapp, the race winner giving his victory interview with Steve King. How crazy is that??!! I have 40kms to go on the run and the winner has finished. As I headed out of town and down Main Street I saw www.twitter.com/kelownagurl and her husband Erik cheering me on. Not more than 50 feet later I saw www.twitter.com/trifunster and her husband. I was running slowly but had a smile on my face and felt pretty good. I was not really concerned about the distance I had to cover still. I was pretty excited that I had now finished the swim and the bike and was now on the run. It was like being in a dream how quickly the time had passed during the day. Around 9kms into the run I started to feel the distinct tightness of my right IT Band. I had ITB 10 years ago when I first started to run marathons but t

Let the FUN Begin!

We are off to Penticton today. I am feeling excited and getting more nervous but basically OK still. All my training is done. I rode 80kms on Saturday and ran 60mins on Sunday. Now it really is just a few more short training sessions away to IMC! The weather forecast has changed since my previous update. It is now looking more like 33-35C on Sunday. No problem...I have trained in hotter. :-) All my lists have been made and my stuff is packed. Now all that is left is a few days of festivities and the BIG DAY! For anyone who would be interested in following the race, you can log into www.ironman.com on Sunday at 7am PST for coverage. My number is 2396. Happy training and racing everyone.

How Not to Pace a 5km Race

Notice anything interesting about my 5km splits for my Las Vegas 5km run? Even though the 1st km was all downhill, I knew I was in trouble when I checked my Garmin 405 to see a 4:20 km time. As you can see, the rest of my kms were quite a bit slower. Any good advice out there for how to properly pace myself for my next 5km?

Elements of Erin 337

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