Race Report: The Trailbreaker Half Marathon

Well I ran it, in 3:07:59 (Garmin time) finishing last in my age bracket and 2nd last among men. The wind was not that bad as it turns out, and it barely rained at all so that was all good. Had a few glitches along the way and before the start but otherwise smooth sailing.

My glitches:

• My Bluetooth headset for music would not pair with my phone, so at the last minute no music for the race, which was frustrating, no idea what was wrong with it.
• I was overdressed, had to much on and was hot most of the race until I saw my daughter and gave her some of my stuff. Felt better immediately
• My Garmin worked fine all race but for some reason would not recognize and download here at home, after about 100 downloads with no issue, the one download I really want, no go! I was able to copy the splits from the watch, but no map of the race route for me.
• My fueling plan went awry when I ate a Cliff Bar at mile 4.5 which proceeded to give me GI distress until mile 7.5 when I found a rest room. I would estimate this little snafu cost me 15 minutes.

My positives:

• I was calm at the start plus I felt properly fueled, my hydration was fine, and it remained so throughout the race.
• At no time during the race did I think about quitting, although the GI distress made me very uncomfortable for about 20% of the race.
• My first six miles were 12:04, 12:30, 14:00, 14:23, 13:09, and 13:56. A little faster then I would have liked, but I was very comfortable.
• Mile 12 was 14:07 so I still had something left in the tank.
• I am writing this about 12-14 hours after the race (insomnia) and while my legs are tight, I have no other issues physically.

 The Trailbreaker  

• Getting numbers and chip was a breeze, the start was well organized.
• Race runs the first 2-3 miles and last 2-3 miles on sidewalks in the business section of  Waukesha, which was awkward at times.
• The trails we ran on were nicely paved and clear so that was fine.
• I would personally would have liked to see a few more aid stations, there were only 3 for a total of 5 on the out and back race course.

Future plans

• I start the Fox Valley marathon training on the 22nd of this month, with a slightly different program, three runs a week, Wednesday, Friday and the long run on Sunday. With some weight training in between.
• Two intermediate goals are out there, the Highland Park Half marathon (June 2), and the run portion of the Wacounda triathlon (July 28th)