Southern Illinois Spring Classic

The Southern Illinois Spring Classic Half Marathon and 5k supports Kids Shopping Day in Lawrence County. The race starts at the Parkside Elementary School and runs into Lawrenceville around the square back out to the Elementary School at that point the 5k veers off and finishes on the track around the football field, while the half marathon takes off to Bridgeport.

It was a cold morning 26˚ at race time, I really did not start feeling warm until the 4 mile marker, where I handed a sweatshirt off to volunteers.  The course is fairly flat and is a nice run in the country from Lawrenceville to Bridgeport and back.

Waiting for the race to start.

Here I am closing in on the 3 mile mark.

Getting close to the end!

The race ends on Ed Loeb Field.

Crossing the finish line!

At the end of the race with my medal and a bottle of water.

With Scott Bosecker, the overall winner.

Coming soon The 2015 Kentucky Derby Festival 1/2 Marathon.

Final Long Training Run

Follow me on my final long run before the Southern Illinois Spring Classic Half Marathon on 3/28/15.

Conventional wisdom states that in order to prepare for a half marathon your long run is 10 miles, I am not conventional. To prepare for a half marathon I do a full 13.1 mile training run . This strategy is not for the first time half marathoner, before trying this your body needs to be conditioned to being able to do a 10 mile run at least once or twice a month.

A certain person who worries about me did not want me to run outside because it was too wet and muddy. Where would she get an idea like that?

It had rained Friday and clear into Saturday morning so I had to put off running until Saturday afternoon. During the first mile my body felt stiff and took a little longer to loosen up than normal. During miles 2 and 3 I was having to hold my body back to a 9 minute per mile pace.
Miles 4 - 8 I settled into a pace of about 9:25 per mile. Miles 9 - 13 I was having to push myself to stay below 10:00 minute miles. I finished 13.29 miles in 2:07:28 with a pace of 9:42 minutes per mile.

Look! I passed a car!

Good thing it was parked.