Iron Horse Half Marathon - October 11, 2015

The Iron Horse Half Marathon is ran on a beautiful rolling course through Midway, KY. It is a double out & back style race, forming a T shape, with about 800 feet of elevation gain. The race starts in downtown Midway then heads east for 3.5 miles where you encounter your first turnaround, you then head west for 7 more miles before the final turn around to head home to the finish line, basically where you started.

Training: Didn't do any specific training for the event. More rebuilding of my base while recovering from the nagging injury to both my hip & achilles. Really just trying to get back into a running rhythm. Most runs leading up to the race were just easy paced.

Gear:

With temps in the mid 40s for the start this is what I decided to wear.

• Shoes: Saucony Kinvara 5
• Socks: Champion C9
• Shorts: Brooks Sherpa IV 5" with Champion compression shorts underneath
• Shirt: Champion C9 short sleeve
• Watch: Garmin Forerunner 210
• Other: Flipbelt, throwaway arm warmers & a pair of jersey gloves.

Didn't pack any sunglasses, a decision I would later regret. I always make a pair of throwaway arm warmers by cutting the toes off a pair of old dress socks. This coupled with the jersey gloves keeps me warm until I get moving. I usually toss them at the first aid station without remorse as they don't cost a lot. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Race Day:  I live fairly close to the race & know from previous years that there is ample parking at the college so I didn't get up super early, opting for a 5:30 wake up. Had two servings of steel cut oats & two fried eggs for breakfast, which is my normal meal minus yogurt. Took a quick shower to keep it fresh & put on my race attire. After a short drive I made it to the race at 7:15, giving me 45 minutes before the start gun. At 7:30 I started my normal warm up routine of 10x squats, 10x side to side, 10x lunges, 10x front leg swings & 10x side leg swings before going on a ~10 minute warm up run. This put me at the start line with about 8 minutes to go before the start. Before I knew it they were doing the 10 second countdown & it was go time!

• Mile 1-4: From start to first turnaround. Ditched the throwaway arm warmers & gloves at the second aid station. Settled into my groove in this first section. Splits were 7:00, 7:10, 7:00 & 6:57.
• Mile 5-8: From turnaround back past the start. Really got into the equal effort flow during this stretch, slower up the hills but bombing down them. Likely frustrating for people as I would pass them on the downs only for them to retake me on the ups. Ended up being a net gain later in the race with higher energy levels. Splits were 7:04, 7:13, 6:53 & 6:49.
• Mile 9-11: From a little past the start through the last turnaround. Biggest climb of the race in this section & it was reflected in pacing. Still felt surprisingly well considering the low mileage base. Picked off a few runners in this stretch. Splits were 7:22, 6:54 & 6:56.
• Mile 12-13: From past the last turnaround back to the start. Small climb to start this section then all downhill. Picked off a couple more runners & dropped the hammer in the final mile. Splits were 7:03 & 6:40.
• Mile 13.1: The last tenth is what makes the T shape. At this point it's an all out sprint to the finish line. Tried to catch one last runner but wasn't able to. Final .1 at 5:57 pace. 

Strava Activity

Conclusion:  For a come back race I couldn't be happier with the effort & result. I ended up coming in 25th place, same as last year, in a time of 1:31:38. This was only 62 seconds off my PR on the same course. Missed out on 3rd place age group by less than 1 second. I like to think it was the guy I was trying to pass at the very end.

Remember when I said I regretted not bring shades?

Yeah, 7 miles of this...

Coming in hot for the big finish!