Ran The Run for the Elk Marathon in North Central Pennsylvania, in a little small town of Emporium in the middle of Elk country. Race was out and back on the West River Trail. One out and back for the halfers and two for the marathoners. At least coming home was down river.
Race start at 7:30am, but some early starters in the half and full had already set out. A thunderstorm blew through just before race start, but fortunately things basically cleared and the race was only delayed by a minute. Some light showers mid race for about 45 minutes, otherwise mainly overcast throughout the race, but with 95-100% humidity. Mid seventy temps, but feeling in the eighties. But for late July, pretty good. I was sweat drenched head to toe by the first 10K.
Went in undertrained due to heat waves that cut my main last long run 3 weeks out from 32-35K to only 26.5K. I would pay for the lack of endurance on the final inbound loop. First out and back went well, with a 2:01:06 half split. Things fell apart at the 31K mark. Downed a gel, two water and two Gatorades at the water station as twitches of cramping started to rear its ugly head. Legs tighten up as well, as pace slowed eventually into survival shuffle, then run/walk.
Second half split 2:27:45. Total time 4:28:51, a personal worst in the marathon. Still finished 1st in my AG 60-69 (okay there were only three other geezers in my AG and one of them started early and wasn't eligible for awards).
