Race report Shipyard Half Marathon. The weather was favorable, in the low 70s, breezy, and lower humidity. The course itself was short- 13 miles at most- and although I expected the bridges to be tough at mile 2 and 9, they didn't seem bad at the slower pace. The course was also a double loop, which can get annoying when having to weave. As for the actual race, today was tough in that I didn't perform at my best intentionally. After talking with Drew and getting his advice, I went into it intending to just stick to my marathon pace or 6:09 (dream time) since my marathon is close and I want to stay fresh, however when a friend of mine, Sean, showed up randomly and went out fast, it was tough to see him go and to know I could be there next to him. After 6 miles of battling my desire to speed up, I was about 2 minutes back and just resigned myself to stick to general marathon pace. The moment I made that decision to relax and run the pace, everything was incredibly fun! As much as I relish competition, running a half at marathon pace in a race was one of the most pleasurable things I could have ever imagined. I felt like a million bucks the entire run. I was high-fiving teammates, cheering other runners on, not worrying about tangents, goofily weaving through people who I had come upon in lap two, and running on the grass without even being annoyed that they were five across and taking up the entire course- and we all know how that can be. By the time mile 13 hit, I was sincerely sad to realize that the run (race?) was over, and was all smiles for my friends watching me run in. It was tough to hear everyone in my group wonder why I didn't have a faster time after the race, but I got over it quickly. I believe that it truly does allot me the best opportunity to be successful for my marathon in two weeks. Even if the marathon doesn't go according to plan in two weeks and I just don't have it that day, I know now that I'm capable of a good marathon eventually. That's truly a cool feeling. Splits: (goal was 6:09 overall pace): 6:06, 6:18, 5:59, 6:08, 6:01, 6:03, 6:00, 6:03, 6:17, 6:00, 5:53, 6:08, 5:56, no last 0.109 (short course). 6:05 overall pace. A little quick, but that's okay I think. | 