Up for the challenge by FatFrank

I guess I have to say that this first experience on half-marathon was a bit like I anticipated – which is like nothing I could’ve anticipated. The journey started out well and I had the chance to meet people from all over the world since I stayed at a youth hostel in the heart of Québec city the night before the race. They were all rallying up for a pub crawl downtown and I have to say that I was tempted to tag along - oh my Irish background betrays me again. We had good conversations though up until 11pm and I only caved once to peer pressure and only had one tasty stout while turning down another 10 at least. I made up for it by drinking another gallon of water – maybe not the wisest decision as it got me up 3 times during the night rushing to the facilities.

The next morning the legs felt super fresh and relax and I kinda knew right off the start that I was in for a fun ride. The KM markers were kinda hard to understand as there was 3 different distances on the same course. The only real split that I did manage to get was at 10k. I knew I was rollin but I was clearly not expecting a 32:15 split. I didn’t really panic knowing that I was almost at halfway point and still feeling relaxed. With 8k to go I started struggling a bit with a moderate head wind and a couple hills; just enough to make a difference. I slowed down the pace only by a few seconds but nothing major – however I was starting to get that nasty feeling of exhaustion. Was I ever glad to see that “1K To Go” banner and looking at my watch I knew I was well under the 1H11 Top 100 seed standard for Chicago and also well under my objective of 1:10:20 and that gave me enough juice to hammer a final K in style.

I ended up running a 1:08:16 with close to 8 min ahead of the second place guy. I don’t know exactly where I pulled this from but I guess it was the right decision to move up distances. Next race is now the Ottawa 10K and with a 32:15 split on Half I think that my PR on that distance might be in jeopardy.

Good running all!