Almost 13,000 Strong...

Competed in the marathon, half-marathon, 5K and marathon relay on Saturday in Hartford. The weather was perfect for running - cool to cold in the morning and cool at the finish.  Lots of folks were overdressed, in my opinion.  We did well in our t-shirts and shorts.  Hopefully I'll have a picture to post soon...obviously, though, the elites knew how to dress...

Start of the 2010 Hartford Marathon / Half Marathon

17 years old, the Hartford Marathon continues to grow and impress.  This year's field was more than 20 percent larger than last year - yet I couldn't tell.  In fact, I felt more supported and felt that there was more than enough "stuff" to go around - by "stuff" I mean gels, aid stations, post race bars/bananas, beer tickets and free hot dogs in the beer tent.  To make things even better, the race is also a certified-gold, Council for Responsible Sport race and Runner's World once ranked it on their list of the 10 Greenest Races. 

So, how'd we do?  AWESOME!  I went out to have fun - no pressure.  My goal was to get my buddy to sub-2:00 for his first half.  Well, we blew that up.  The training that he put in definitely set him up nicely.  We finished at 1:47:52 / 8:14 min/mile pace.  Even though my goal was for my buddy and this was just to be fun, this race did have some importance to me.  Only my second, open half-marathon, I just wanted to beat my previous time.  I know that I'm a different person now and that our "bummer" goal would beat my previous time, I am happy to report that 1:47:52 is almost a 16 minute PR.

Between Saturday's results and the results from the last two weekends, I am really pleased that I have been able to maintain some speed - despite training more for the Ironman distance for much of the year.  Maybe I am a runner.  Thanks to all of you for your well wishes.  I hope you all had a great weekend of training and racing.