2010 colchester half marathon: race report

despite the two days of snow that led up to it, the 2010 colchester half marathon went off without a hitch! i was sure the race would go on because of the prerace email sent out by the race director that addressed the impending weather forecast. it read in part:

"So the worse case scenario as I see it is that we are running in anywhere from 2” to 6” of rain soaked snow while it is snowing or raining lightly. Certainly not bad weather when compared to some previous Colchester Half Marathons and certainly no where nearly bad enough to cancel the race. Food has been purchased, food has been ordered, volunteers have committed their time and the Colchester Half Marathon will go on.

The Colchester Half Marathon and its runners are tough. There is no canceling this race! If we get huge amounts of snow and the police prohibit us from running then we all go to the cafeteria and eat the food that has been prepared for the post race carbo reload party!"

i added the emphasis :D in light of that, there was no way i'd miss this - unless weather kept me from getting to the race!

as it was, emmy and i barely made it to the race on time! for the second weekend in a row - right on the heels of the late arrival to the albany winter marathon last weekend - we arrived at the race within 5 minutes of the start! even with the race going off a few minutes late, i really had no time to get ready - so i found myself at the starting line woefully overdressed for the conditions(and, if to emphasize that, i had my asics jacket on)!

time wise, i thought about a 1:40 target, but quickly realized a 1:45 was more realistic under the circumstances. there was no likelihood i'd repeat the 1:37 i ran at colchester last year. instead, with the boston build-up 25k on deck the next day, i hoped to get in two decent training runs. as it turned out, i missed my revised 1:45 target by more than a minute.

here are the splits:

7:33
7:39 15:13
8:05 23:18
7:52 31:11
7:54 39:05

16:26 55:31
8:47 1:04:18
8:20 1:12:39
7:40 1:20:20
7:57 1:28:17
8:04 1:36:21
8:44 1:45:06
0:56 1:46:03

8:06 pace

i was disappointed at not having kept it under an 8 minute pace. but since i walked to the crest of two hills, i can't complain too much. except for the climb on the snow covered dirt road in mile 6, the course was free of snow! my only problem was overheating from all the extra layers i had on. all in all it was a great training run - and a great day to be outside running!

afterwards, there was plenty of food (which included meat and veggie lasagna, pasta salad, brownies, green beans, and pizza) laid out in the cafeteria. i'm not sure if it was a record, but there was a huge turnout of runners (despite the weather concerns). this is a great event, and great value! very old school - low cost, no shirt, tough course, great post-race food (plus showers and massages for those who want them)! don't pass this one up!

the next day i bounced back pretty quickly and managed to pick up the pace for the 25k :D

here are some race photos.