I planned to kick off this years running season with an easy going half marathon. I felt this one captured the spirit of a season opener, just getting sh*t done. I started by trying to convince friends to join and thought of making it a social occasion more than an athletic experience. Ashley and my buddy Mike agreed to register, but alas Mike never found the time to train.

Come race day the weather turned into a windy cold snow filled morning. Yet having committed, I related to getting out and running with with Mike. It was unseasonably cold, but how much can you complain about the weather.

Part of this race is a timed segment about halfway through. Its a race within a race and I thought it was a great idea to motivate some mid run push. As the race started we moved at a steady slow pace. With the slower pace I had an abundance of energy at the segment race which consisted of a 1km gradual climb. I decided to give it a go and ended up running a good pace, enough to win the segment outright.

I pushed hard the last 10km and ended on a good note:

As part of winning the segment I got a cool hat and shot out:

Unbeknownst to me, Mike had hurt himself at halfway point and ended up walking in the second half. Kudos to Mike for pushing through and finishing the race:

In hindsight I’d have to say this was one of the best run smaller events. The course was in my backyard and the organizers were full of energy. As a bonus there was amazing cookies at the end.

Regardless of the weather this was turning out to be a great start to the 2019 summer race season.