Bay Breeze Half Marathon race report:
This was my virtual half marathon for the Kessel Run. Goal was sub-3 hours; stretch goal was 2:45. Plan was to run 8m/walk 2m, aiming for a running pace faster than 12:00. Breakfast was a That's It bar, and I packed cubes for pre-race and gels for during the race. Plan was half a tube of gels about 15 minutes out, the other half about 5 minutes out, and a gel every three run intervals. I remembered my water bottle this time, too.
It's been rainy and wet here all week, so I was a bit concerned about muddy trails. As we approached the race parking, there was a bright rainbow - not a good sign for a dry race.
Due to parking issues, I ended up walking up in the middle of the pre-race briefing, about 5 minutes before launch. It was chilly, windy, and lightly raining. The start/finish line was in a grassy area that was already starting to get muddy - not a good sign for the 10k and 5k launches, or for anyone returning.
There was a local running club that had pace groups set up from about 1:30 to 2:30. I briefly pondered sticking with the 2:30 group, but decided that throwing out my plan 2 minutes before the race started would be unwise.
Fortunately, the rain stopped right after the race started, leaving us with just 45F and windy. This is an improvement, but perhaps not as much of one as you'd hope.
8m/2m worked well, although dropping to a walk that first time was hard - letting everybody pass me. I think I estimated there were maybe a dozen people behind me by the time I started running again. I had to work to keep my pace around 11:00 for the first interval or two.
The first few miles were on asphalt, and there were no puddle issues. The fastest 10k runners passed me between mile 2 and 3. I was able to refill my water bottle at the first couple water stops. Then we hit the 10k turnaround, and went to gravel trails. And then the puddles showed up. They were generally avoidable, they just narrowed the trail a bit...or a lot. The trail was a fairly solid gravel, so there weren't issues with it being slippery outside the puddles.
There was a long gap from the second water stop (just before the 10k turnaround) to the third (at the half-marathon turnaround). No problems getting my water bottle refilled, though. I hit the turnaround at 1:23 or so - right on track for a 2:45 time.
Around mile 10 was when problems started cropping up. I noticed I was having trouble keeping my pace above 12:00. Then, just after mile 10, my right calf muscle twitched. I hoped this was a one-off and kept going.
No such luck. By the last water stop, I was having to drop down to a walk before my leg folded underneath me. I grabbed a chunk of banana there, and was due for my final gel. I decided I wasn't worrying about 2:45 any more, and set my sights on 2:50. I was pretty sure I could walk the rest of the way and get under 3:00 at that point.
I ended up running about 90 seconds to two minutes, then walking for a minute, for the rest of the way. The start/finish line was even muddier than I expected. My wife and younger son were waiting there for me - wife had run her first 10k in 1:34:59, younger son had run a 5k in 50:36.
Final time, 2:48:32, a PR by over 25 minutes. I finished 267th of 285 finishers. Splits were mostly in the 12-13 range, except for the last two in the 14s. I set Strava PRs for every length above 10k - 15k, 10 mile, 20k, and half marathon.