50 is the new 40: The Other Half race report

I ran my first half marathon in the spring of 2004 in a time of 2:01:30. In 2008 I began to get serious about running (you know, running more than twice a week!) and ran my first sub-4 marathon; in June 2009, hoping for a 1:50 half marathon, I ran an entirely unexpected 1:44. My PR dropped to 1:42 at The Other Half in October, then, at the Canyonlands Half in March 2010, to an astonishing (I was only aiming for sub-1:40) 1:37:01.

And there it sat. Over the next several years my times at other distances improved, but not at the half. It took me 5 more half marathons to even get under 1:40 again! Finally in 2012 I ran a 1:38:xx half, and then two more. But I was still a good 90 seconds or so above my old PR, which was seeming more and more like a weird fluke I'd never be able to repeat. And I was getting older - I turned 50 in September. Maybe that old PR would just have to stand.

But going into this year's The Other Half, I felt confident that my training was coming together for me. If I was capable of a PR, this would be my chance - despite the relatively challenging course profile:



I had a plan for this race. It basically boiled down to: don't fall, don't poop, and don't go out too fast. The big question in my mind, as I drove out to Moab on a cool, sunny Saturday afternoon, was: could I execute this plan?

( Getting ready )

( Miles 1-4 )

( Miles 5-7 )

( Miles 8-12 )

( Bringing it home )

( Numbers, analysis, and pictures of me grinning like a loon. I guess that's a spoiler. :-) )