Greater Hartford Quarter Marathon

Well, I have now completed a quarter marathon. It was long and tiring, and I don't know how long it will be before I am ready to tackle a half-marathon.

They had way more runners than they were expecting so because I signed up on site, no tee-shirt for me. I received number 380.

They had signs set up for people to seed themselves by time, going from 6 to 10 minutes. No signs for 11 minutes. I stood near the end.

It was cold, and I wore sweat pants and a hoodie sweatshirt, along with a hat and gloves. The second mile, which has a steep uphill, I stopped and walked for about a minute on the steepest part to preserve myself. Remember I was doing this only as a long training run.

I did not go out to fast because I wasn't thinking about time.

I just about hit the 5K mark when the leader lapped me. He finished with a 5:19 pace. All told I think I was lapped by onlt two runners. They finished and I had to go around again. I took three short walk breaks on the back half, Interesting that I was never passed while walking. I think I might have done better if I had walked more.

I plugged along, the last mile is mostly downhill with a half mile flat at the end.

I crossed the line in something like 1:13:02. An 11:09 pace. I was 345 out of 370 runners.

When I crossed the line, they placed a really nice ribbon and finishers medal around my neck, which made up for no tee-shirt.

They had a nice spread. I ate a banana, drank some blue juice and had some magic cookie bars.

I talked to a guy I knew who is training for the marathon. He says its all about walk running. It made me feel better about trying to do a half-marathon at the end of May. If I do one long run a week and incorporate walk running, and I can get my distance up to 10 miles without dying, I just might do it.

When I got home, I put my ribbon around my daughter's neck (picture coming), which she enjoyed. I did feel a little light headed. Overall I am sore, stiff and tired, but glad I made it, glad I ran the race.

Results

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I have to decide my next race. Likely a 5K in May, with a decision to be made at a later point about doing the 10K or the half marathon at the late May iron Horse race. The tris don't start until June, but I will need to devote some time to getting some bike miles done.

Signed,

A Quarter-Marathoner