Glacier 1/2 Marathon Recap

Spoiler alert: HOLY PR BATMAN!

Going into this race, I said that my goal time was 1:42. Of course, in the back of my mind, I had a “stretch” goal of 1:40. I planned to run the first half on pace for 1:42 and see how I felt after that. The weather was perfect (overcast, low 50’s), and I was feeling really good from the start. I ended up hitting the turnaround point in just over 50 minutes, right on track for a 1:40. Even going at the faster pace than I had planned for the first half, I could feel that I still had some left in the tank, so I dropped the hammer on the way back in the 2nd half of the race, and decided to just go for it. It’s a pretty flat course, with most of the hills being in the first half, so I knew I had it relatively easy going back.

The last few miles I was definitely starting to hurt, but I kept pushing hard, and the last 2 miles were actually my fastest of the race, at 6:48 and 7:01. I crossed the finish line in 1:37:21, setting a new PR by 11 minutes!

This is a pretty low-key race put on by the Anchorage Running Club. There are no shirts and no medals, but it’s only $20 for running club members – tough to beat for a 1/2 marathon! What they do though, is take your time from the last time you’ve run this race, and give you an age-adjusted goal for this year. If you meet or beat your goal time, you get a race mug. I think that’s a fun little twist on your usual race swag. And since I finished 19 minutes faster than I did last year, I gladly accepted my prize, which I put to good use almost immediately after getting home:

Next stop: Mayor’s Marathon on June 23! After today’s performance, I’ve got a lot of thinking to do about what I’m going to set my goal time at for that race.