Running with Eric

On saturday morning I ran the Grand Island Half Marathon in a time of 2:14:15. This was slower than I was hoping for, but I am glad that I got the distance in and finished my first spring half since 2023.

I had planned to stick with a 2:05 pace group to prepare myself for the upcoming Buffalo marathon, but without any pace leaders I was left to run my own race. I felt good for the first two miles, but this probably just implies that I started too fast. By mile four I was already feeling tired, but reached the turn around just under 1:03 which was very close to my goal pace.

I slowed down some in the second half of the race in a way that makes me concerned about running twice the distance at the end of the month. Still I pushed through with a steady pace to the finish.

My next race will be the Vale of Three Falls 10k in Letchworth Park on the 17th.

On Saturday morning I ran the Grand Island Half Marathon, and was a bit slow finishing 24 seconds over the two hour mark. This was a real disappointment finishing six minutes slower than last week.

The race started out well enough, sticking with the 1:50 pace group through the opening five and a half miles. I passed the half way mark at 56 minutes, on track for a two minute improvement over last week. Things started to slow down around mile nine, although I didn’t realize how bad things had gotten until the two hour pace leader caught up half a mile from the finish. (Ultimately I pulled ahead of him, but he was a minute off pace.)

I had a similar problem running this race two years ago in that I was inexplicably slower than I had been the previous weekend at Flower City. And this is despite the flatter Grand Island course being a theoretically easier place to run.

I have a quick turn around for my next race as the Dirt Cheap Trail Series is running in Durand Eastman Park on Wednesday night.

On Saturday I ran the Grand Island Half Marathon. I finished in 1:50:36 which is two minutes slower than I was last week. Still it is the second fastest half that I have ever ran.

My main problem in this race is that I started way too fast. I finished the first 5k in 23:42 which was almost a minute ahead of where I should have been. Yet despite the fast start, at the turn-around I was already a minute behind my pace from last week, and just continued to fade from there.

I finished the race in 112th place, which puts me just outside of the top third of all finishers in the race. My next race will be the Dirt Cheap Race in Black Creek Park.