Bronx Half

This was my 4th year running the Bronx half and my best yet. Despite my cold, and sick and teething 15 month old, I scored a 1:16:58, my 4th fastest half marathon! I went out relaxed with the idea of a 5:50 pace as my goal. The first 4 miles came in at or below 5:50, with the next 6 or so around 6:00. I managed to stay competitive throughout, with no one passing me after 4 miles. With 3 miles to go, I had 1 more competitor in front of me within catching distance. I followed closely behind him and with 2 miles to go, took the lead. He drafted off me until the 12 mile mark, then passed me seemingly for good. I stayed about 10 feet back for almost the rest of the race. As we approached the finish line, i was able to pull up right behind him, and as we spotted the 13 mile mark, I put in a sprint to try to lose him. He didn't respond, and i was able to put a 20 foot lead on him, which I held onto till the finish. That effort put me in 21rst place out of 5000+ runners and 7th in my age group. I was very satisfied with this race, especially for this time of year. The only 3 other times I have run faster, it has been with in 2 weeks before a marathon i was training for or the month after a marathon, never this far out (12 weeks). Plus, this was my first race without head phones since 2005. I am trying to get away from running with music and focus on the race at hand, I feel like my head was more in the game and my splits did not fluctuate as usual. My mile splits were:

Mile 1 - 5:40
Mile 2 - 5:46
Mile 3 - 5:44
Mile 4 - 5:50
Mile 5 - 5:59
Mile 6 - 6:01
Mile 7 - 6:01
Mile 8 - 5:58
Mile 9 - 5:51
Mile 10 - 6:00
Mile 11 - 6:01
Mile 12 - 6:01
Mile 13 - 5:44
Mile .1 - 5:20

My time history for this race is:

2007 - 1:21:28
2008 - 1:20:55
2009 - 1:17:35
2010 - 1:16:58

Up next - 5K in Prosperity, SC. Look out, the city slicker is in town!