Fits Do Race Reviews: The City of Lakes Half Marathon

This past Sunday, I ran the Jeff Winter City of Lakes half marathon. I believe this race was the original Minneapolis marathon (you can read about the history of the race HERE). Then it was changed to a 25k. This year was the first year that it was changed to a half marathon.

The course starts at Beard's Plaisance on Lake Harriet. It goes around Lake Harriet to Lake Calhoun back to Lake Harriet and back to Calhoun!

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I was a little worried about the monotony of running each lake twice, especially since I run these two lakes ALL. THE. TIME. (though I'm not complaining, I live where I live so I can run the lakes!)

However, I realized that its actually pretty rare that I race around these lakes. I found it to be a nice change because it was a race, if that makes sense.

It was also a huge bonus that a lot of our friends from the Calhoun Beach Running Club came out to cheer for the racers! Knowing where they would be after passing them the first time really gave me something to look forward to the second time around.

There were two support stops on the course that we hit twice, which I think was perfect for a somewhat cooler morning.

The finish line was right after the bandshell.

Everyone received a pint glass and a medal.

I haven't received a medal for a half in awhile and this one was pretty nice.

I took two Hammer Gels during this half marathon- one around mile 6 and one around mile 10. The support stops offered both Powerade and water, so I would drink water with my gels and Powerade the other times I passed the support stops.

I did try out a singlet that I might wear for the full marathon <- test out your marathon outfit before race day people!

No chafing with this tank, so that was a win. It's from Gear Running Store if you like it.

I'm so proud of Dustin who broke 1:30 at the race! He ran a 1:29:06 which is a 6:48 min/mile average! Yay for Dustin!

My performance...I ran 1:49:37. I had hoped to run closer to a 1:46-7, but it definitely did not happen. Sure it was a PR by about 15 seconds (got to update the PR page at least), but I didn't race smart at all. Based on my splits (below) I should have started more conservatively, as I clearly lost my speed in the last three miles.  I think I need to go out slower than I did- well, clearly I need to go out slower than I did, but I felt so great and the weather was cool...lesson learned. Start slow folks so you can finish strong!

Splits:
Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 8:12
Mile 3: 8:04
Mile 4: 8:03
Mile 5: 8:02
Mile 6: 8:17
Mile 7: 8:09
Mile 8: 8:13
Mile 9: 8:20
Mile 10: 8:32
Mile 11: 8:40
Mile 12: 8:42
Mile 13: 8:49
Last 0.22 (on my Garmin): 7:41 min/mile pace

There were a lot of PR's on the course on Sunday. Congrats to all the runners out there, especially my CBRC friends (below) as well as Dustin's old boss Curt. Curt is training for his FIRST marathon and he passed me by in the last few miles for a great race! Nice work Curt. He will #crushit at his first marathon!