Bucket list updated - sub-freezing half marathon, check

Well, it wasn't really on my bucket list, but I retro-actively added it to the list while huddling under the stairs at the Misquamicut beach pavilion to get out of the wind this morning while waiting for the start of the Ocean's Run half marathon. Brutal 18 mph wind out of the north, with gusts into the 30 mph area, combined with a 16 degree starting temperature made this one a very intimidating challenge. Thanks to some great advice from my mountain climbing friend, Jim, I was very well-clothed and comfortable for nearly the entire race - except for the stretches that headed north, right into the teeth of the cold, cold wind. The wind chill during those gusts was definitely sub-zero - I had beard-cicles when the race was done, and my new merino wool buff that I used as a head and neck cover had iced over as well.

The great news is that apparently my dieting and training is working, because I broke my personal best by nearly two minutes even with the uncomfortable conditions, all of the extra clothing, and spare stuff filling my pockets. My time today was 1:51:22, beating out my old 1:52:18, but my watch measured 13.25 which would lead to a 1:50:02 time for 13.1 miles based on my 8:24 average pace.

Here were my splits:

1. 8:31.5
2. 8:19.4
3. 8:15.7
4. 8:14.9
5. 8:18.3
6. 8:22.0
7. 8:39.4
8. 8:33.6
9. 8:19.7
10. 8:30.7
11. 8:23.4
12. 8:33.8
13. 8:25.3
14. 1:54.3

Not very consistent, and not close to negative splits but I blame a lot of that on the wind - after mile 6 there were significant portions of the race with the wind in our faces, and the "hills" were also in this half of the race ("hills" is maybe an exaggeration as this was a very flat course).

The other good news is that today's distance puts me just about equal with my goal pace for the year. I'm at 175 miles and the goal pace would have me at 175.34. That's a pretty good feeling as well. With 28 more miles on the docket this week, I should be about 9 miles ahead of pace by next weekend.

Here's the progress to date.

• Jan (complete) - 68 running, 27 walking, 95 overall
• Feb (complete) - 84 running, 63 walking, 147 overall
• Mar (in progress) - 23 running, 8 walking, 31 overall
• Total (in progress) - 175 running, 98 walking, 273 overall

• Normal Pace (year to date) - 175.3 miles
• Normal Pace (month to date) - 13.7 miles
• Normal Pace (week) - 19.18 miles
• Normal Pace (day) - 2.74 miles