I ended up running this race with one of my co-workers's 14 year old son. He was faster than me, but had somewhat of a weak bladder. We ended up taking bathroom breaks at 3 and 8 miles; I needed the first one, but not the second.
At mile nine, my copilot decided to speed up and ended up with a 2:12 finish. I did buckle down and speed up for mile 13, as you can see. I also ran farther than I had to because I like to take the outside of turns so I keep up my pace instead of slowing down for the tangent.
I felt really good about this race. I didn't have any mechanical issue like cramps, pain, or the sort. I dressed appropriate for the weather with a long sleeve shirt, baseball cap, and gloves. I timed my gels right with one at the start and one at 6.5 miles. I thought I could maintain a 9:50 pace and set my watch for that.
Things I can do better next time would include managing my bladder so I don't have to stop during the race. I plan on getting in the potty line about 20 minutes before the race so hopefully I'll time getting my bladder empty with the start of the race.
I also thought I went out a tad fast, but after further review, my second half (adding half of mile seven to the first half and half to the second half and ignoring the .21 at the end) was 27 seconds quicker than the first half. Overall, a good split.
So...PR! I'm claiming it even though I had two rest breaks; I will need to back it up Dec 15th in the Santa Hustle Half marathon. My training schedule is tailored around a 9:24 pace. Hopefully I won't have to take any bathroom breaks this time!
Wednesday: 3 miles moderate pace.
