On the evening before the race, I went to El Dorado to pick up my packet and bib and to drive the course; or at least as much of it as possible, as some of it was on a trail in El Dorado State Park. In addition, I used the course map to write down every turn, just in case things were not marked well.
I felt pretty confident on race day. I had no plans for a PR or anything too crazy, but a solid sub-7-minute pace was definitely on the agenda. There were 70 half-marathon runners (as well as 37 5K runners), so I planted myself in the front, expecting to end up behind most of the people around me but at least going out strong before settling into my pace.
We started on Third Avenue near the train station and then proceeded North on Main Street to 12th Avenue and I hit a 6:38 for the first mile. Excellent! I could even slow down a bit, right?
Oh, you know me. Off the road and onto the trail leading to the park I did another 6:38, putting myself in the top 10. Some turns along the path led me over the small river and into the park proper with a 6:27 third mile and a 6:38 fourth mile. The fifth mile brought me to a road beside the lake and a legitimate hill.
A hill! Here in Kansas! It had been months since I had run on hills - something I had left behind in New Jersey - and here I was running up a 100-foot incline. Back in Jersey, that was something I could do with no problem, and maybe I could have mustered up the muscle memory to do it here in Kansas. But there is one thing in the Midwest that I had not gotten used to yet - the constant, relentless wind.
My fifth mile was 6:59. Continuing up the hill, I hit a 7:17 for mile six. A turn onto Myers Road to head out of the park (with a beautiful vista of all the nothingness that I love about Kansas) kept the wind and the hill coming, giving me a 7:16 seventh mile.
Finally turning onto Main Street after a descent and a 7:02 eighth mile. Though I had briefly gotten myself into third place, I had now secured a spot in fourth. But more importantly, it was time to do some math. With a 54:59 elapsed time, I suddenly felt like just finishing with a sub-7 pace (which would put me at a 1:31:33 finish time) was not enough. I wanted to finish in less than 90 minutes. That meant I had 35 minutes to run 5.1 miles.
Every mile had to be several seconds under seven minutes and the flat straightaway in mile nine gave me the chance to kick it back into gear. Catching up to the third place runner, 20-year-old Paul Cornwell, I made up some time with a 6:34 as I told him, "I'm not trying to make a move to pass you," because I knew damn well I could not, "I just want to get in under 90 minutes."
I had about 28 minutes to go four miles, so all I needed to do was keep them at sub-7. We turned onto McCollum road and did a bunch of turns throughout the residential neighborhood. I clocked a 6:53 for mile 10 and 6:50 for mile 11. Paul was long gone ahead of me, but keeping up with a guy half my age was not the goal.
Turning off of Country Club Road onto 12th Avenue with a 12th mile of 6:46, I got back on Main Street, pushing with all my might to get that sub-90 finish with time to spare. I hit mile 13 with another 6:46 and an elapsed time of 1:28:50, leaving me well over a minute to do the final tenth of a mile. I turned the corner onto Third Avenue and finished with a final time of 1:29:19 (6:48 pace) and a fourth place overall finish.
Photo by Brandi Lake
It was my first public half-marathon since 2017 and my fastest half-marathon since 2018. I won my age group and I met some great Kansans and a Coloradan. Sure, there are no more PRs, but there are some amazing things that can still happen for me at races. I am excited to see where that takes me in my new home state.
Photos by Daniel Galioto
Visit eldoradohalf.com for the full results and lots of photos.
