KC 1/2 Marathon - If you look this good...

All summer long, I had taken my training serious. Even going into the ironman, I thought I should do my best to play the role of the serious athlete. Therefore, I didn't write my name or anything else of my shirt.

Seriousness got kicked out the door for the KC 1/2 marathon Saturday morning. Friday, I ate pizza for both lunch and dinner (hey, it was free both times), and had 5 or 6 beers throughout the evening (it was free for packet pick-up volunteers - and I was a volunteer).

So when I finally got home Friday night and started gathering my gear for Saturday morning, the sharpie came out. And on the back of the shirt wrote:

"If you looked this good, you wouldn't run fast, either."


So how was the run? The race itself was perfect in almost every sense. The weather was perfect. It was in the 60's at the start of the race and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I ran the first 6 miles of the run with my friend Abbie, who was running her first marathon. We ran the first 6 miles at just under a 10 minute mile pace. We had some good laughs along the way. The marathon-1/2 marathon split was tough because I felt I was helping Abbie and I knew Abbie was pushing my pace. I seriously considered making the turn and running the entire marathon. I was feeling good. I was feeling strong. But I didn't have the e-caps and GU to get me through 26 miles. So we split.

After the split, I pushed the pace and passed several people looking for someone to run with for the remainder of the way. I caught up with another TNTer, Rick, who was waiting for his daughter who was having some trouble with the longer hills. I then caught site someone who I thought was a new TNTer raining for RNR-AZ, her first marathon. I had never talked to her on the trails more than the occasional "Hi".

Still, I was really wanting someone to finish the run with, so I ran up beside this unknown person and did the whole "Hi, are you training for Disney or Arizona." Fortunately, it was who I thought it was and ended up running the remainder of the race with her.

I finished the race in 2:12:23, which beat my previous best 1/2 time by 11 minutes and my time in the 2005 KC 1/2 (which was 0.4 miles short) by 15 minutes. My average pace on Saturday was 10:07/mile.

And all this raises the question about when you stop being a slow runner and start getting classified as "fast". After all, I did claim that I didn't have to run fast because, well, I am good looking.

And I think I deserve to know when I officially become "Fast".

The best sign along the way: "China has a wall, you don't."

Next up, Vegas!