I have to admit that i was a little skeptical of the Fairfield Half Marathon race when I showed up at 6:30am and found NOBODY where I thought the start was. My family and I drove around for 10 minutes thinking I was in the wrong place until finally somebody showed up to get us to park in the REMOTE parking lots…. seems that the festivities were going on around 1/2 mile up the road at Jennings Beach (i was at another beach I guess). Regardless, we got through that and all was well.

I set a PR in this half marathon even though I don’t feel i was even trying to. I my official time was 1:43:10, which knocks almost 6 minutes off my best half marathon time, I think it was worth the trip. I underestimated the course and the heat right from the start. The first 3 and last 3 miles are pretty flat and a good way to start and finish, but the middle 6-7 miles were a little hilly (up and down) and did offer a decent challenge. I don’t think it was too bad, however I got through it pretty well. I wore my Nathan fuel belt with a 22 oz water attached, and wore the Stilleto, for some tunes, which i’m not sure I’ll do again. I’m not sure I get the full effect of the crowds and racing when you can’t hear whats going on, I think I missed something in doing that.

As for the heat, it started in the upper 60’s and got pretty hot, and I took off the shirt at mile 2 because I felt the heat kicking in, but found that the middle portion of the course was fairly shaded, so there wasn’t a ton of direct sunshine beating on me the whole time, it actually wasn’t that bad. I read previous reports by others who have done this race that its brutally hot, and I can imagine if its in the 80’s, it would be, but it just wasn’t that bad this year, a real excellent day for a race.

So anyway, i’m thrilled that I PR’d, it was not expected, but I kept an average of about an 8 minute mile the whole way, which is a challenge. I can usually do it for 8-10 miles, but for 13 was certainly impressive. I was amused to see the guy from the swanzey covered bridges half marathon last year that was running with no shoes on … I started out near him, but passed him in mile 3 and never saw him again. It shows i’ve improved my skills from back then.

So the splits go like this, I did miss a few ……

15:20 -Miles 1 & 2 (missed the first split)
7:36 – Mile 3
15:32 – Miles 4 & 5 (missed the split)
7:49 – Mile6
8:04 – Mile 7
15:36 – Miles 8 & 9 (missed the split)
8:17 – Mile 10
8:08 – Mile 11
8:08 – Mile 12
8:29 – Mile 13 and .1

So the unofficial results are posted right now, but they will be made official later on.

it was a beautiful day in Connecticut, and worth the trip up, i was really happy with the race, it was a great day. (although i’ll probably be sore as hell tomorrow).