I prefer trail runs to road races, but with a half marathon being held right in the town where I live, I had to do it. The Lake George Half Marathon is an almost new event. This was only the 2nd year for the event.
I had no idea what to expect from a road race at this distance. I had done some longer trail runs before, but they are different from the speed of a road race. I decided to go a little slower than my capacity in the beginning, to make sure I had something left at the end.
The weather was perfect for running. It was about 35 degrees at race time, but no wind and full sun. I wore light running pants and two light layers on top and I was fine the whole race.
I had no idea what to expect from a road race at this distance. I had done some longer trail runs before, but they are different from the speed of a road race. I decided to go a little slower than my capacity in the beginning, to make sure I had something left at the end.
The weather was perfect for running. It was about 35 degrees at race time, but no wind and full sun. I wore light running pants and two light layers on top and I was fine the whole race.
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| The view of Lake George from the race start on Beach Road |
I started in about the middle of the pack. The pace was a little too slow for me in the beginning, so I passed probably 50 people in the 1st mile. After the 2nd mile I only passed a couple people, and in the last half of the race about a half dozen people passed me. There wasn't a lot of movement.
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| The steamboats are getting ready for the summer season |
I didn't have a watch and there were no time displays, so I had no idea how I was doing. I felt pretty good at the finish. It was good that the last 2.5 miles were mostly downhill.
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| The runners are off... and I'm ready! |
I finished in a time of 1 hour, 47 minutes and 50 seconds. That put me at a pace of 8 minutes, 15 seconds/mile. I finished 82nd out of 365 racers and 7th out of 12 men in my age category. I was happy with that for my 1st half marathon.
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| 20 seconds left to the finish, and I could see it! |
At the finish, I had a bottle of water, a Gator Aid, a banana and a couple chunky chocolate chip cookies. I was then ready to rest and wait for the results to be announced.
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| Resting afterwards with Rev while waiting for the results to be announced |
I still like trail races better, but I'll continue to run select road races of interest.
Next weekend, on 5/6/12, I plan to run the much harder 7 Sisters Trail Race in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It is a littler shorter (12 miles vs 13.1 miles), but it has 3700' of vertical gain and is a real gut buster. Hopefully I will live to blog about it.
