Back in training for the 111th Boston Marathon on April 16th.
During most of the training, I run alone. But once before the actual race, I like to run a Half Marathon race to prepare for the psychology of participating, testing out newer clothes and shoes, holding myself to a pacing strategy and finally to get the feel of running with crowds (importantly not to let the slower or faster runners make you deviate from your pace).
So this morning I ran the Hyannis Half Marathon in a time of 1:47:35 (pace: 8:13/mile)*. 7 mins faster than my half marathon time last year! Yoo Hoo!
It was a beautiful day to run in Cape Cod. The sun was out and the temperature was a crisp 40 deg F (4 deg C). Running along the sea shore and the lighthouse was sublime. And we dashed past the Kennedy's Compound and the JFK Memorial! The first mile took an agonizing 9 min as the starting crowds thinned out. But i quickly got to my target pace of 8:15 and held it there. The terrain was characterized by constantly rolling hills and after struggling up the gentle inclines I'd dash downhill faster. As we ran uphill along deserted roads, we were all breathing heavily in unison and in synch with our heavy footfalls. We all suffered but kept the pace. I steadily passed others during the entire run – and particularly during the last few miles it was a major psychological boost.
Overall, a superb day and a satisfying run! Now back to the rest of the training.
* For the Marathon my pace would be much slower; hoping to be around 9:30. That would be 45 secs faster than my pace from last year. Lets see how it goes!
… and WoW! A no-picture post!
Arun Shanbhag 