Sandpoint Scenic Half Marathon

Race date: 9/18/11

Meghan and Rene

I had a bunch of fitness built up this year due to training for Ironman so I wanted to run a half marathon to PR.  My half marathon PR from last year was 1:33:04.2 which I got at the Snake River Half.  I jumped a ride with triathlon club teammate Meghan and on the way to Sandpoint it was sprinkling so I was concerned my body would get wet and cause chaffing or blisters to my feet.   Before the race I asked her what her pace would be and she said, “about 7:00”.  I wanted to go sub 1:30 so I had to hit 6:50s.  Shortly before the race the rain stopped.  Awesome!

I saw some fast racers including professional triathlete Brian Hadley (he placed 4^th overall at Ironman CDA) and Gretchen Rose Wolf who beat me at the Hayden Triathlon.  Gretchen and others that beat me at Hayden started in a different wave so I didn’t know they beat me til later.  I will have to remember that next year in wave starts!  In any case the race started and at one mile a voice from behind me says, “that was one fast mile Rene”, we had run it in 6:50 or less.  It was Meghan.  Where did she come from?  I thought she was going to hang back (at 7:00 pace), guess not!  I saw Gretchen pull off to the side to tie her shoe at mile 2 or 3, I was thinking, “cool I might be able to beat her now”!  ;-)     I thought Meghan was going to fall back but continued to hang.  At this point I knew she was going to hang with me as she was looking strong.  As we crossed the bridge there was some headwinds so I was drafting behind these two girls who didn’t look like runners I didn’t think they could hold this pace for much longer (they later finish the race in front of me...never judge a book by its cover!).    Unfortunately around mile 5 Gretchen catches and passes me.  Meghan and I were doing the best we can to hold the 6:50s up hills.  I went over 7:00 pace a few times up the steep hills, but figured I could make it up on the way back.  At mile 6 I take my gel and we hit the turn-around.     It seemed Meghan was hitting the uphills hard and I was hitting the down hills hard.  We could see all the other racers after the turn around.   It was great to see some familiar faces like Kathy and Tanya.  At about mile 12.50 I pick up my pace as I wanted to have nothing left when I crossed the finish line.  I gave it everything I had that last .6 miles!  My final time was 1:29:17 with an average pace of 6:48.9 per mile.  I got 2nd in my age group and 11th overall!  WahooOOO!

Nearing the finish

Done!...I left everything on the course!

The green is the elevation of the Sandpoint Scenic Half Marathon, the red is my heart rate beats per minute (bpm).  My heart rate was pretty steady on the inclines and declines (surprisingly) and it spiked when I kicked it at mile 12.5.