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.
The Boston Athletic Association won the team event with a combined time of 5 hours 42 minutes 6 seconds. My team, Dirigo R.C., ran a team time of 6 hours 2 minutes 5 seconds, but our top three finishers were not attributed to the team as of the time of this writing and there is no official result for us. We will have placed fourth once the results are fixed, assuming that none of the other teams are missing members.
Alene Reta won the race in 65 minutes 52 seconds, followed by Kassahun Kabiso 11 seconds later. Joel Anderson was the first Dirigo finisher in 69 minutes 13 seconds, a 2 minute personal best. He finished in 10th place.
I warmed up on the hill, so I knew what was coming. I much prefer uphill finishes; I can gut it out and pass a lot of people.
New Bedford is a great half-marathon. I ran it a few years back, but was unaware of the last mile hill. Starting to pick up my pace as I came into the 11.5 – 12 mile mark, I soon regretted it as I conked out halfway up the hill.
I’ll never make that mistake again. 🙂