Personal Bragging: My 50th Half-Marathon

[Rain Man]

Last Saturday's race (in 42 degree temps in the rain, I might add) was my 50th half-marathon since I started my hobby in June of 2009.

My vital statistics are:

Completed races in 12 states so far (AK, HI, CA, NV, UT, WY, CO, TX, LA, FL, OH, and WI)

Median pace = 10:15 per mile
Median pace in flat, sea level races =9:37 per mile
Fastest pace = 9:04 per mile (Beaumont, TX - flat and sea level)
Slowest pace = 29:36 per mile (Pike's Peak Ascent - 7,800 foot climb from 6,300 ft to 14,100 ft and I was not good at it.)

14 have been at elevations between sea level and 3,000 feet (Median pace = 9:52)
21 have been at elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet (Median pace = 10:06)
9 have been at elevations of 6,000 to 9,000 feet (Median pace = 11:08)
9 have been at elevations of 9,000 feet or higher (Median pace = 15:29)

26 have been more or less flat with total hills < 300 ft (Median pace = 9:50). Three were net downhill.
12 have had moderate hills with total hills of 301-1,000 ft (Median pace = 10:43)
6 have had strong hills with total hills of 1,001-2,500 ft (Median pace = 12:10)
9 have had major hills with total hills of 2,500 ft or more (Median pace = 15:29)

The 9 with major hills are the same 9 that were over 9,000 feet in elevation.

3 races were run in the rain and 1 in snow.

I've only fallen once, and it wasn't in the rain or snow. (Tripped on a trail rock.)

24 were primarily on pavement or asphalt
6 were primarily on dirt roads
20 were primarily on trails

I've gone the wrong way on trails 4 times but only twice did it for more than 30 seconds. The worst mistake added 3/4 of a mile.

I've also had 2 10-mile races and a 10K in there, so that's 53 races in 54 months.

[Rain Man]

You may be right. This may be some sort of psychological coping mechanism.

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

2/3rds of the way to 100. I did my 67th half-marathon today, and it was a challenging one. The starting line was at 9,900 feet in elevation, and went up to 10,750 feet. It had about two miles of deep mud because of rain last night, and mud really slows a person down. Plus, it was a 15.3 mile half marathon, which is more than I every run.

Nice! Which one was that? Are you running Vail HM this year? One of these years I'm going to get out there for Vail.

Today is day one of my 50K training plan. Coincidentally, I think I may have torn some ligaments in my ankle yesterday...while mowing the yard...on a riding mower

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by kepp

Nice! Which one was that? Are you running Vail HM this year? One of these years I'm going to get out there for Vail.

Today is day one of my 50K training plan. Coincidentally, I think I may have torn some ligaments in my ankle yesterday...while mowing the yard...on a riding mower

I was just looking this morning and pondering Vail versus a convenient one that's about five miles from my house.

I realized yesterday with the South Park Half Marathon that I'm not in the best shape of my career, and Vail is tougher than yesterday's race. I should do Vail just for that reason, but I've done it enough times that I might just do the convenient race and save some budget to hit a race in another state later in the year.

Hopefully your ankle heals quickly. You must have been shifting gears aggressively.

[lewdog]

Have you ever ran the Missoula marathon? It's widely know for being great.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Have you ever ran the Missoula marathon? It's widely know for being great.

I haven't, but I haven't had an excuse to visit Montana since I started running these. I've run them in 16 states and one foreign country so far, and I'm hoping to knock a few more states off each year.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I haven't, but I haven't had an excuse to visit Montana since I started running these. I've run them in 16 states and one foreign country so far, and I'm hoping to knock a few more states off each year.

There's always an excuse to visit Montana.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by lewdog

There's always an excuse to visit Montana.

Strip clubs and steakhouses?

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I haven't, but I haven't had an excuse to visit Montana since I started running these. I've run them in 16 states and one foreign country so far, and I'm hoping to knock a few more states off each year.

Thats damn impressive. I only have 4 states to my credit. May get to add Alaska this year though.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

Strip clubs and steakhouses?

In the same establishment? And do they serve freshly baked bread and butter before the entrees?

[Rain Man]

If anyone's interested, here's a video of the race that I ran last Sunday. I just ran the half-marathon, so I didn't do the BAMF stuff through the snow. The half-marathon topped out a little below 11,000 feet in elevation, and the full marathon went up to 13,000 feet. You'll note that the race director went up and shoveled a path through that one large snow drift.



The dude in the dreadlocks who shows up around 4:00 won the marathon, and finished about 10 minutes after I finished the half-marathon. (In my defense, the half marathon was over 15 miles and I'm old.) Pretty amazing. He ran a marathon at high altitude up a mountain, and finished in a little over 3.5 hours.

[Marcellus]

Damn that looks awesome.

[cdcox]

I saw this bumper sticker today that made me think of this thread:

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

In the same establishment? And do they serve freshly baked bread and butter before the entrees?

I heard the strippers actually throw you your dinner rolls.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Damn that looks awesome.

You should come out and do a race with me. And by 'with me', I mean 'way ahead of me'.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by kepp

I heard the strippers actually throw you your dinner rolls.

My god, what a fantastic concept.