Mesa Phoenix Half Marathon

Michael and I ran the Mesa Phoenix Half Marathon on February 25th in Mesa, Arizona.  I ran a 1:29:02, which is a 6:48/mile average pace.  I thought I'd be a little slower because I was about 10 lbs over my top race weight, plus I just wasn't in that great of shape.  So all that considered, I was really happy with the results.  Here are the splits ...

7:27, 7:09, 6:59, 6:53, 6:41, 6:58, 6:38, 6:51, 6:38, 6:43, 6:36, 6:26, 6:11

My official race results indicated that my last 10K was ran at a 6:20 pace/but I don't know how that's possible, but regardless of the pace, it didn't feel that difficult.  I ran fairly effortlessly all day and felt like I could have gone quite a bit faster during the early miles.

The Mesa Phoenix course is a very fast, gradual downhill and the weather was absolutely perfect at about 40 degrees when we started.  The 1:29:02 earned me 13th out of 185 in my age group.  But more than anything it helped jump start my racing for 2017.  I would really like to run a half marathon PR later in the year, and this race confirmed that it's well within my reach!

Hopefully I can stay healthy and enjoy a great running year!