This year for the Hartford Marathon weekend I ran the half marathon. I had been training for the Marine Corps marathon but deferred that race, but was confident that I had enough miles under my feet to have a decent half marathon finish time for this race. Diana and I were planning on running it together with a race goal in mind so we would have a decent finish time to use for runDisney corral placement for future races.
This was my friend, Portia’s first half marathon so I told her I would drive her up to the race so she wouldn’t have to worry about parking, finding where to go, and the best part is, my office is located just a block away from Bushnell Park so we could go there prior to the race to stay warm and use real bathrooms!
The morning of the race I got ready exceptionally fast and was actually on time to meet Portia in my driveway. I had oatmeal and two pieces of cinnamon bread with my tea for my pre-race meal and brought a banana to eat just prior to the start. Portia and I drove up around 6:20 and got to the parking lot a little before 7:00. I found Diana and then we went over to the carousel to meet up with some Mickey Milers to get a photo before the race and then I invited everyone up to my office to get warm and get ready for the race.
At 7:30 we left the building to head back over to Bushnell Park where we could drop off Portia’s bag at gear check and head to the starting line. It was the perfect morning for the race with temps in the 50s and overcast skies. We were at the start line with a few minutes of time to shake out the jitters and take some photos to commemorate Portia’s first half marathon.
When it was time to run Portia stuck with us for the first half mile and then we sent her off on her way. The crowd opened up at that point and Diana and I started our 30/15 intervals. I was feeling strong and we continued these intervals throughout the entire race except for two small sections where the hills were steeper and we needed to keep a brisk walk instead.
Overall, we kept a great average pace of 11:49 minutes per mile with a finish time of 2:34:46. I am very pleased with that. I had been working on shorter, faster runs during my weekly short runs to try to increase my pace a little bit. That in conjunction with doing leg exercises has contributed to my success in this race.
After the race, I met up with my friend Anne at the park where we enjoyed our Harpoon UFO beer in the beer garden to celebrate a good race finish. The Hartford Marathon Foundation also had a special offer for race finishers to visit area restaurants and present your medal and get a free beer. So Anne and I went to the finish line to watch for some friends from the Be Our Guest Podcast relay team finish under the arch, and then we visited the restaurants offering these specials.
I was very happy with this race and my results and plan to continue to use this race for a PR course or training run towards a marathon in the future. I am also so excited for Portia. It all started with mojitos on Memorial Day on our back deck. From there she started her first journey toward a half marathon and accomplished her mission!
Friends, running, fun, and beer, what more do you need!