Grand Island Half

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.