Honor Run Half 2018 Race Report

There were a few things working in my favor this race, and a few not so much.

Working in my favor: training. As I mentioned on the Race Preview, I had put a lot of time and effort into that advanced training plan. IT. PAID. OFF. I kicked the hills’s asses with little added effort. I felt strong the entire way.

Working against me: the cold and my gut. It was so cold my first fluid was a Gatorade Slushie (lemon-lime, my favorite!). I ran off from that aid station with some leftover Gatorade frozen in my mustache (no joke, and I was quite amused by this). The cold was also so bad that there was a large ice patch in the parking lot within the first mile and some of the aid stations had spread salt around their station to prevent freezing. My gut decided it wanted to aggravate me the entire race. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I walked to the mall to use the restroom (which I probably should have done during the race).

The Breakdown

My pre-race was staying in my car as long as possible until I needed to head towards the start/finish line. I did some light jogging as a warm up and got into the starting grid right at 6:45 as they were starting pre-race ceremonies.

The first half was largely me not-pushing-myself to ensure I didn’t die out on the second half. There was a large ice patch within the first mile causing everyone to slow down, and I pointed out several smaller ice patches on the mall property. Just past mile 2, there was a large patch that was coned off. The hill in mile 2 was nothing to me. I skipped the first water stop at mile 2 and took Gatorade from the second station at mile 4. Around mile 5, I decided to channel my inner Eluid Kipchoge and try smiling. The first 6 miles were 8:06, 7:44, 7:40, 7:58, 7:51, 7:44. First half split around 51:19. Somewhere around here I took my Gatorade Endurance Gel (apple-pear… my current favorite).

The second half was more me attempting to channel my inner Eluid Kipchoge and smile, keep my gut at a rest, and handle the hills. The hills were the easiest, followed by smiling. The highlights were the mile 8 water station, a ham radio friend standing just past there (out of his vehicle, standing and watching like a badass), and Mr. Red at mile 11.35 noticing my mustache. The lowlight was the mile 10 water station that just phoned it in (they were standing IN FRONT OF the table NOT handing out cups. Seriously, either own your volunteer “job” or GTFO of the way!).

The splits were 7:50, 7:38, 7:47, 8:05, 7:57, 7:50, 7:45, and 0:42 (for that pesky 0.1).  Second half split was around 51:14, so a negative split by 5 seconds. Overall time of 1:42:33, which is a PR by 6:20!

• 

• 

There may be more pictures as they become available (last year they provided pictures for free).

Postrace

I didn’t stick around long. On my way from the finish line to the mall (I walked around a little to reduce any leg soreness that would have been experienced if I sat immediately after), I grabbed a chocolate milk and a turkey sandwich. The sandwich was disgustingly salty and I spit out my one bite and dropped the rest in the trash. After using the restroom, I stepped outside and immediately shivered, so I grabbed a goetta sandwich (far less salty than the turkey sandwich) and a bottle of Gatorade and went to my truck.