Ran early yesterday and then had a long day with a work event last night so didn’t get to write about my run. Just a normal morning run with average pace to conserve for the race. Then went and picked up my race packet!
The Mesa Marathon is one of my favorite and this was my 8th time running the half. The course is mostly flat with a few areas slow downhill stretches.
The runners are bused out to the start line so it is a very early morning. Instructions said to arrive at the parking lot at 4:30am to be on the bus by 5:15am. I left the house at 4:30am and made it there with plenty of time to spare.
No fireworks this year at the start of the race, but there was a full moon. The temperature at the start was 47 degrees and I don’t know what it was at the finish. I know it felt good and I wasn’t ever too cold or too hot.
I felt strong and had several runners I used to keep me on pace. Fairly consistent pace of 8:58 average for the first nine miles. I slowed a bit after that and final average pace was 9:03 per mile.
It felt so great to start that last mile and know that I was going to come in under the 2 hour mark. That was my goal the last two years and I finally did it!!
I definitely ran happy today!!
I needed to thank you for this good read!! I certainly enjoyed every little bit of it. I have got you bookmarked to check out new stuff you postÖ