Really bad day. Left calf cramped up at 0.6 miles, left quad cramped at 1 mile. Splits were off what I wanted them to be starting with mile 2, as I just mentally wasn't in it at all after feeling so crappy less than a mile in. Calf cleared up after a few miles, but quad was really sore the entire race, to the point that I was worried about tearing the muscle on the steep downhills between 3 and 6. So, basically, I had to just hang on for the last 12 miles of a 13.1 mile race. Not exactly what I wanted (I was hoping for a sub 1:14), but considering that my goal 1 mile into the race shifted to just making it to the finish line without walking, it could've been worse. The good thing is that it was really easy, aerobically, thanks to the copious downhill. Obviously the cramping is probably related to running another half last weekend, so I'm going to not race back to back halves in the future. Post race, my right leg (the one with the recent hip troubles) feels totally fine, and the left quad and calf are really sore. I don't currently have any injury concerns, but I'm going to be really careful coming back in the next week, just because I don't want to end up with some sort of compensation-type injury. For anyone looking for a fast half course, this is by far the fastest I've ever been on, with the second quarter of the race literally on par with Alta Peruvian 8k, and the "rolls" on the course are really really not bad at all. I think 1:13 was a reasonable goal; I was just extremely off my game today. Oh well.
Official result online is listed as 1:15:23, but I actually ran 1:16:23. I forgot to put my chip on my shoe and they manually entered my times based on gun time (I started right on the line, so it would be close enough), but they apparently entered it wrong. I've emailed the timing company, but they haven't responded. Not sure how to get it fixed. Regardless of time, my place is 7th either way.
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