In March 2023 I bought flights to visit my father and step-mom in Wilmington, North Carolina. I set up the trip for 2 weeks to encompass the Battleship Half Marathon which was set for Sunday November 12th and Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Fiona couldn’t come because she doesn’t get enough leave and she had just come back from a week visiting her family in Australia but I was also going to be working remote for the 2 weeks in NC.

Once I convinced my Dad to sign up for his first ever official race at 69 years old, he signed both me and him up in June, on his birthday. Although he did a fun-run race before watching me compete in the Ironman World Championship in St George Utah back in 2022, Dad had only started running in 2020 at 66 years of age when he officially entered retirement and decided to take up running to “stay healthy and not get fat”.

Dad worked all year long running up to 13 miles, running some hills, some intervals, and although isn’t competitive at all, was looking forward to the race and I was going to pace him to a goal Sub2hr half. Sadly, Dad got an injury about 2 weeks before the race, something with his hip… I think it’s a pulled glute. He’ll go to a PT soon and hopefully get it all sorted out.

Since Dad was out and I was still in, I’d go for it and give it my best as a good test to compare myself with my recent racing and get some understanding for my upcoming marathons: Tucson – Dec 10th in just under a month from now and Mesa – Feb 10th, 3 months from now.

Pre-Race Day

I’m in my 6th week of 50+ miles per week: 45, 47, 50, 52, 54.1, 54, 52.2, 54.1 (exp). Last weekend on Saturday I ran the Pecan Classic 10K in 43:30 at 7:00/mile with the opening 5K in 20:58 at 6:45/mile. The next day I ran an easy 20mile treadmill run in 2hr51 at 8:35/mile. I had a bit of fatigue on Monday and got home from work late so I took the day off which is rare now for a Monday. Then I ran 5, 8, 8, 5 (NC outside), 5 (NC treadmill) in the days leading up. Also the day before I had pancakes for Brekky, 2 humungous pieces of pizza which is the best pizza I’ve had in years (AZ Pizza is crap). I took Dad to Crumbl for the first time ever, ate half a pack of gummy bears, AZ Iced Tea, Gatorade, and RedBull. Dinner was a big bowl of pasta, sauce, bread, 2 glasses of Chianti and more Crumbl. I had a good amount of calories but was tired and went to bed at 10pm for the 5:15am wake up.

RACE MORNING & Analysis

Up at 5:15am and I had 2 pieces of white toast with butter and jam and a medium RedBull. We left about 5:45 for the 15min drive over the river from Leland to Wilmington and parked at a meter station just up the street from the start. We sat in the car since it was 50F and raining. Dad gave me a sweatshirt that I threw to him just after the start and I wore a trash bag over myself to keep me warm and out of the rain until 1 minute to go. I hit the loo and then had a Maurten Caf 100 just 15min before the race. I wore my Beats headphone listening to my Amazon playlist and wore a waist Camelpak that holds a 24oz bottle filled with 1 LMNT pack of 1G Salt. 3 weeks ago in the TMC A Mountain Half Marathon (1:37:43), I started cramping at M12 since there were only a few water stations with water only. At 187 pounds, I sweat a lot, so I wore the pack today to cover that issue but also simulate marathon conditions. I also had 4 gels that I would have at M3 (Precision Hydration), M6 (Maurten 100 Caf), M9 (ClifShot), and I skipped my M12 gel. I also drank just under half my LMNT bottle so 500G of Salt. I had 2 glasses of water from aid stations.

I started back near the 1:40 pacer and this race had pacers from 1:30 all the way up. The Jack Daniels Phd Vdot calculator: https://vdoto2.com/Calculator told me I was in 1:36:28 shape based off of last week’s 10K. Today was the same 58F vs 64F last week and elevation was at 28′ vs 2,714′ above sea level. It also rained the whole time during the race so I figured I could go around the 1:35 level.

“Dr. Jack Daniels, a renowned exercise physiologist, and running coach, has conducted extensive research on the effects of altitude on running performance. One study by running coach Dr. Jack Daniels found that runners slowed down by about 4 seconds per mile for every 1,000 feet of elevation gained over 3000 feet.“

Heat also has a dramatic impact on running performance even at “cool temperatures”. I found an interesting heat calculator which appears to translate to about a 1min30sec faster speed over last week. https://www.runyourpersonalbest.com/heat-running-pace-calculator Since I went 1min 48sec faster, it appears that this improvement could be highly correlated to the rain and colder temps, even more so than the elevation.

The last piece of analysis could be wind and elevation. The route today climbed 823′ over several bridges that went over the waterways. Last week climbed only 125′

THE RACE: Run 13.1miles

I ran across the start and saw Dad quickly and threw him the sweatshirt. I was running very closely and nearly tripping over people since there were 429ppl in the 10K and 952ppl in the half marathon that started at the same time. There was a short steep pitch at M1 and then the first short climb over the first of 3 bridges right after that. At this time I came up on the 1:40 pacer and kept moving forward. There was an out and back near the USS North Carolina Battleship and the rain really started coming down so I proceeded to hold my eye glasses in my hand for the rest of the race. Then it was onto the next bridge at M3 and another at M4.25 where I really started to get some separation at this stage with paces on: 7:14, 7:03, 7:26, 7:09. At around M5 there was a 180 degree turn for the 10K and it was here that I could only see about 3 ppl in front of me over the next 800meters. I stayed focused with great volunteers and some crowd support throughout. The windy and curvy road around a lake was really beautiful with large trees and leaves around. The rain continued but it wasn’t slippery. I stayed focused and was breathing really well with great intensity on HR of 140-143. Miles continued on in 7:13, 7:19, 7:15, 7:03, 6:59 and at M10 the quads started feeling it. 7:22 into some headwind and rain 7:13, 7:14. In the last mile I got passed by 4 runners including the 4th M35-39 that beat me by 20seconds. I also past a couple of ladies. Final mile 7:11 and I saw Dad just before finishing with a smile on my face.

Where to go from here

I am quite happy with this half marathon. It was a 2023 PR by 16 seconds over the Mesa Half Marathon 9 months earlier. Cadence improved from 174 to 176 and HR was a bit higher from 140 to 141 (unsure because had an inaccurate segment of 10min at 151 which definitely didn’t happen!). It was also a great improvement over TMC and faster than VDOT predicted values from last week. So based off of today, I am in 3:16:48 marathon shape which is no where near my 3:05 goal and BQ requirement to get into Boston. In 2018 I went 3:13 and in 2021 I went 3:19. Both of these runs were long 3:12 and 3:16. So the first thing I’ll do is make sure I cut those tangents really really well this time. It may or may not be cold during the run. Last time it was 67F on avg. Unsure of the first time. The course drops 2,200′ and climbs 500′. So ultimately I don’t know if I’ll be able to break 3:05 which is why we just signed up for Mesa last week as a backup where I’ve gone 3:07 (not long). And most of these runs I dealt with painful Plantar Fasciitis for several years. So, I don’t know. But i’ll give it my best. Stay Tuned!

Thanks to the Race Director, volunteers, sponsors, and all those who helped out with this race. I highly recommend this half marathon because it was fun, beautiful, and a solid course!

I plan returning and pace Dad with Fiona next year!

Time for a 10mile run.