Rochester Half Marathon
I’m proud to say I completed the Rochester Half Marathon this past Sunday, with a personal best time of 1:45:06.
From left to right: Greg, David, Matt, John, Myself
Overall, I averaged a 7:58 mile pace, with splits of the following:
- 7:43
- 7:47
- 7:42
- 8:09
- 7:59
- 7:51
- 7:50
- 8:09
- 8:15
- 7:47
- 8:20
- 8:02
- 8:21
- 5:51 (.14 miles)
This time bested my time from last year of 1:52:40 by 7:34! I was just running this race as a regular long Sunday training run for the full Niagara Falls Marathon, but still hoped to do better than 1:50:00 - I’m very happy with this time.
The half marathon started just after the full marathon. Last year there was some confusion on where the start of the half was (it started right in front of the Harro East Ballroom), but this year they lined all the runners of the half up at the starting line for the full & then walked us up 30 feet or so to the starting line for the half. I was right up front, perhaps only 7 or 8 feet from the line. The wheelchair racers really pumped me up last year, but there was only one this year. I also remember having to bob and weave through the crowd for almost a full mile last year, but this year had no such problems and was able to start setting my pace immediately.
Again like last year, I started out a little faster than I really wanted to for the first couple miles, but found a group of four people to run with and was able to keep the pace. The pretty girl in their group I was behind for the first 7 miles helped as well… The others in her group broke away from her to answer nature’s call around 6 miles in. I stayed with her for a while, but she went up hills too slow for my liking and raced down them, while I instead paced up them and recouped energy on the way down, so I fell back from her and her group (who’d rejoined her) at Brighton Town Park.
I remember the run along the canal being pretty tough last year - while the water is level, the path aside it goes up and down quite a bit. Although the path hadn’t changed from last year, I purposely ran more hills during training and was much more prepared for it this year. Right after the course started to continue along the canal (at mile 7), the battery in my iPod died. I was angry at myself for not having charged it - I’d used it the morning before while scouting for deer, but told myself it was worth it since I saw a couple deer. Although it would have been really nice to have for the run, I faired alright without it. Aside from that, the only other notable thing along the way was just before the University of Rochester, there were some pretty impressive condos being constructed on the far bank.
Without a doubt, the best part of the race for me was the finish. The field inside of Frontier Field was torn up for construction, so they routed us past the field on Plymouth Ave, left onto Brown St, left again onto Veron back towards the field, and then right onto Morrie Silver Way for the last ~100 feet to the finish line (see map). With the exception of slowing down for water, I didn’t walk a single step this year (last year I walked a couple times).
The only negatives I have about the race are: it felt like there weren’t as many water stops this year & the finish outside the ballpark wasn’t nearly as exciting as the finish inside it last year - it was awesome running the warning track of the field and being in front of everyone in the stands.
My legs felt great after the race, but I did sleep well that night. Getting up three days in a row at 6 or earlier probably wasn’t the wisest thing to be doing.
Two of my friends from college also ran in the event, but they both ran the full marathon. Greg ran his second marathon, in an incredible 3:51:34!! John also ran the race, with his twin brother David and cousin Matt (see picture above for all of us). This was John’s first marathon & he finished right around 4:30!! The really cool thing to me about John’s finish was that David and him came into the finish together - they ran the whole distance with each other! I’m also glad John survived since we almost lost his foot last year during ice fishing season (and almost all of him couple years before that..)
There’s lots of photos at:
September 27th, 2007 at 9:50 am
I feel compelled to note that I finished in 3:51:34. So if you round UP you’d get 3:52 but 3:51 sounds so much better to my ears!
September 27th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
Regardless, the dude has edited your time.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
[...] brother’s 2005 Buffalo Marathon time of 4:09:21. While I felt great at the end of the recent 2007 Rochester Half Marathon, I distinctly remember a time along the canal when I told myself there was no way I’d run a [...]