This was a great race in a picturesque little village on the Naab river in Central Bavaria. A friend of mine recommended that I do the triathlon that the local sports club here puts on but I'll be deployed when it takes place so I did the Spring Run Half Marathon instead. The route takes you through the cobblestoned village center and over the Naab on a stone bridge that was built in the 1500s and then along the Naab until the turn around point and back.
We ran down river so it was mostly downhill on the out leg with a tailwind to push you. It was a little chilly at the start of the race so I ended up leaving my half zip Nike waffle jacket on over the top of a long sleeved running shirt. At about the 4 mile mark I was starting to heat up pretty good and was beginning to wonder if that haden't been a tactical mistake on my part. But when I turned around and headed back up the river and I caught the wind full in may face I was really glad I had it.
I really struggled on the return leg with the generally up hill grade as well as the head wind. In combination they really cut into my average that with the lack of any significant distance in the last few weeks was telling as I hit the well at about mile 10 and I was forced to speed walk a couple of times. Overall I only finished 29 seconds off my personel record for the half marathon with a time of 1:55:26. I'd really wanted to go under 1:50 and probably could have if that darn wall hadn't popped up. Here are some pictures.
Feeling good at the start. Little did I know what I was in for.
I don't look like I'm enjoying it quite as much as I was in the earlier picture, do I? That darn wall took it all out of me.
A beer and a putensteaksemmel (grilled chicken breast sandwich) at the end of the race. Damn the beer tasted good. I went back for a second and since there were no putensteaksemmels done I got a bratwurstsemmel and another beer. We didn't make it all the way home before I started feeling quesy, Shantel had to make two emergency stops, one for me to hurl and then one for me find a bathroom. I didn't even drink a quarter of the second beer. I'm blaming the grease from the bratwurst.
Macen really wanted to run with Dadda, so I signed him up for the 400m Bambino run, he got his own number and timing chip and here you see him hydrating before he runs just like dad. At the starting gun he jumped out of the stroller and started to take off and then stopped. Evidently he didn't want to run with the other kids, he wanted to run Dad's race. Sorry buddy 400m is about your speed these days, it's going to take awhile to work up to 13.1 miles.
This was the sight that dominated the last couple of mile of the run. The castle ruins at the top of the hill with the picturesque little village at the bottom. We actually finished in the open area just beyond the tree line in the mid ground (I stole the picture from the town's website).
If you've been following the blog I've been a little off my training for the marathon and it really showed. If I'd only done the 10k I'd of probably finished in a really respectible time and while a 1:55 half marathon is nothing to sneeze at I know I could of gone faster. Here is the data:
Distance: 13:21
Total Time: 1:55:26
AVG Pace: 8:45
Total Calories: 2027
AVG HR: 179 bpm
Max HR: 188 bpm
Pace
Mile 1: 7:55
Mile 2: 8:07
Mile 3: 8:10
Mile 4: 8:12
Mile 5: 8:15
Mile 6: 8:23
Mile 7: 8:23
Mile 8: 8:30
Mile 9: 8:39
Mile 10: 9:03
Mile 11: 9:35
Mile 12: 10:19
Mile 13: 10:07
.21 Mile: 8:15
Zone 1 Time: 0:06 Distance: 56 ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:03 Distance: 40 ft
Zone 3 Time: 0:46 Distance: 390 ft
Zone 4 Time: 29.27 Distance: 3.2 mi
Zone 5 Time: 1:28:28 Distance: 10.3 mi
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