Hartford Half Marathon

Distance: 13.1 miles of course!
Song of the run: The Distance by Cake
Weather: Perfect fall morning, chilly but warmed up throughout the day

MUSE OF THE DAY
It was a pretty good run on Saturday.  I felt strong but ran stupidly and not at a consistent pace.  Still I ended up finishing just over 2 hours, 02:04:17.  This is a few minutes slower than my time from 2 years ago.

I made too many stops along this race.  The first stop was a bathroom break at mile three where there was a long line.  Then I slowed for water at  mile 5 and 9.  A stop at mile 7 for gu which I did not need and a stop at mile 8 for swag (I got a great orange hat!).  Each time I had to work hard to get my pace back up and pass all the same people over and over again.  Finally, in the last three miles I just gunned it and made up for my lack of pace.  If I had just made the one important first stop and kept my pace up I could have easily run an 8:30 pace and bettered my earlier time.  Ah well... live and learn.  I should know better by now!

Other than that it was a beautiful day.  I have to say the race was well supported and I loved the new route.  There were a lot of spectators all along the way and it was very encouraging.  Kudos to the ING people for sponsoring a great event.  There was a lot of swag and they give out great finishing medals.  I will definitely do it again next year!

So I am writing this on Monday morning and now feel the song of the run is inappropriate given the sad news about Indy racer Dan Wheldon.  Sorry if it upsets anyone, but it was the song running through my head for 13 miles. So think of it as a tribute especially to the Speed Racer cartoon.

I have also included a great video tribute to one of my all time favorite painters - just because.  I hope you enjoy it!