Run to Win

The New Bedford Half Marathon in Massachusetts was this morning. It is the first of seven races in the USATF New England grand prix racing series. The temperature was in the high 30s with some strong wind but not as strong as in years past. It was much stronger at 9:30 in the morning than it was at race time.

The course is pretty flat, with some hills in the first few miles and one decent sized hill over the last mile of the race. There are 4 or 5 miles of (mostly) gentle downgrade in the middle of the course. Those miles correspond with when the wind is at your back, but it comes straight into your face from mile 9 through most of the rest of the run.

There were 1666 runners this year. Derese Deniboba won with a time of 66:29, almost 2 minutes ahead of New Balance Boston’s Ryan Carrara.

Ethan Hemphill led the Dirigo runners, outsprinting a few competitors to finish 11^th in 69:45. I rounded out the scoring for our team as the 5^th man in 76:31.

Heidi Westerling led the women’s race, finishing 65^th overall and winning with a time of 74:30. She passed me about 4 or 5 miles into the race. Molly Taber came through in 5^th for the women with a time of 77:16 for her warmup for the Olympic Trials in April. She ran the majority of the middle miles with me, but decided not to let me break the wind for her in the back stretch and fell back a little.

The Boston Athletic Association dominated in the team race, winning the men’s race with a combined time of 5:47:57 and the women’s race in 3:49:47. Scores are the aggregate time of the first 5 runners on a team for the men’s race and the first 3 runners on a team for the women’s race. The men’s team won by about 9 minutes and the women’s team won by about 5 minutes.

Dirigo finished 5^th overall, following the Merrimack Valley Striders by only 30 seconds. Our combined time was 6:02:28.

(Full Results)

I have already run the Mid-Winter Classic, but it sort of stands on it’s own despite being a Maine Grand Prix race this year. The official start to the racing season seems to be the Mary’s Walk. I liked the Kerryman Pub race (which is concurrent with Mary’s Walk) when it was a four miler rather than a 5k.

This year, I will probably go and watch the Irish Road Rover on Sunday, but I do not expect that I will run. I think I will wait until the New Bedford Half Marathon to begin my real racing season. I am still undecided about whether or not I am going to run the Eastern States 20 Miler the week after, though.

The New York City Marathon qualifying standards are not what I thought that they were. When I ran a 2:52:37 in the Mystic Places Marathon, I thought that I was 2½ minutes away from an automatic qualifying time for the ING New York City Marathon. I thought that I needed to beat 2 hours and 50 minutes in a marathon or 83 minutes in a half marathon. I wanted to get in on an actual marathon qualifying time.
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The New Bedford Half Marathon in Massachusetts was yesterday. It is the first of seven races in the USATF New England grand prix racing series. The temperature was in the low 30s with some strong winds. The course is pretty flat, with some hills in the first few miles and one decent sized hill over the last mile of the race. There are quite a few miles with the wind at your back, but it was very strong and in your face from miles 9 on.
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