Mario Ortiz ran the 21K MUNI Half Marathon and finished with a time of 1:41:33.
It was a great race today. This course is at 5000ft in altitude, and it is the 8th time I have ran this race. This is my second best time in this course, only 2 minutes slower than my best time. The course is difficult, as it has several ups and downs. The pace was very consistent, but I felt I was aerobically limited to go faster; I think this is not a surprise, since I have averaged just 50 miles per week over the past weeks. Looking forward to continue my training towards the Chicago Marathon in 7 weeks.
Christina Kach ran the NH Autofair 10 Miler, finishing this distance in the time of 1:31:20.
Missed a PR by 12 seconds, and my goal window of 1:28-1:29 totally. The start was very crowded, I tried to minimize weaving in mile 1 and didn’t try to “make up” for lost time in 2, so I’d have enough energy for the rest of the race. Miles 2-4 I kept wanting to speed up to 8:50s but kept myself to closer to 9 – letting myself open up a bit in miles 5-7. I hit 5 miles at 46:00 – about a minute off my goal for the halfway split but felt like I could still negative split and at least the math was easy, just had to hit 9 minute miles for the next 5 to sneak into 1:30:xx. I came close in 5-7, but mile 8/9 I was loosing it. My form started to struggling. I focusing on my breathing and momentarily speeding up – but couldn’t hold it. Mile 10, I couldn’t get any faster until the .1 to go mark.
I did hold mentally stronger this race and raced smarter. But dang, I just could not get that negative split energy I’ve so long been able to do. Thinking of races where I’ve really been able to “”turn on”” I just have not had that this summer.
