This past weekend I participated in the Flying Horse Half Marathon at Sunland Race Track. I had only done one other Half-Marathon before and it was the El Paso Half Marathon in 2010 and finished with a very blah 1:57.00. At the time I was pretty happy with that time, but hoped one day I could improve five or ten minutes. I didn’t know what to expect this weekend, but I actually did some run training for this one and didn’t just depend on my tri training so I was feeling pretty good about my chances of setting a new PR.
The race day weather conditions were perfect. The race was set to begin at 8:00 a.m. and it was nice and cool with light cloud cover, but no wind. For the past several weeks I had been training with Gretchen McElroy and we both went about our routine of stretching and warming up before the race got started. I was very thankful to have Gretchen there and hoped that I could stay with her for at least six miles and then just take it a mile at a time after that. The first mile of the race was on the actual horse race track and even though the race directors had the dirt compacted; it was still very soft and a little muddy. As the gun went off for the race to start, Gretchen set our pace and made sure I didn’t take off like a bat out of hell. After the first mile the rest of the race course was on flat pavement and made for a fast race. Gretchen had us running anywhere between 7:15 and 7:25 miles and for the first four or five miles I felt great, but I was ready for Gretchen to begin to slow down and settle us into a more comfortable pace. To my surprise 7:15-7:25 was our comfortable race pace and there would be no slowing down. Upon this discovery I knew I wouldn’t last for 13.1 miles but I was determined to stay with Gretchen for as long as I could.
We both had a chance for small talk throughout the race and it made the miles fly by. At mile 9 I told Gretchen that I was getting pretty fatigued, but she gave me some encouragement and we kept going. At last we could see the race track and knew we only had a couple more miles to go. Gretchen increased our pace and we made a strong push for the finish line. The last mile of the race was back on the soft dirt of the horse track and it really began to suck the energy from our legs. We managed to catch a couple more racers and finished the race as strong as we started. I couldn’t believe the pace we kept and I know if it was not for Gretchen I would have finished in a much slower time. Gretchen won her age group and I finished second in mine. I ended the race in 1:37 and set a new PR by 20 minutes over my last half marathon.
Besides racing with Gretchen it was great to see several area triathletes there. Scott Darling had a great race and won his age group. Misha from Las Cruces was also there and she won her age group as well. Michael Castaneda was participating in his first half marathon and did a great job. Over all the El Paso Tri Club was well represented and made several strong showings.
