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Welp, I finished the 2012 Journeys Half Marathon. My time was 2:45:11, quite a ways from my 2:35 goal, but I'm pretty satisfied with how I did for other reasons.

• I finished.
• I wasn't last in my division.
• I figured out how to keep my pace in check for the first two miles, something that I've struggled with even in training.
• I solved the nutrition problems I was having for my longer runs.
• I didn't have a wardrobe failure, run into any other competitors, or knock over any aid station tables.

The heat and hills conspired to make this a pretty challenging run for me. My pace was where I wanted it to be for the first 9-10 miles, but I just couldn't hold it for the last few. My heart rate would creep up as my pace crept down. I think more long-distance and hill training is in my future.

Nancy did really well, beating her record by two minutes. Check out her write-up. 

Today I passed the 250 mile mark in my running career. Feels good man.

Just a quick couple of miles today. Two more on Thursday, and that's it until The Big Race.

Today's run was a short 4 miles. Yay, taper time.

Nancy thinks maybe fig newtons didn't give me enough in the way of calories on our long run last weekend. It's kind of late to start experimenting with other stuff, but I did take a Gu today to see how it was. It's almost, but not quite, entirely unlike food^[1]. More like a pleasantly consistent sweet snot. At any rate, it didn't have any negative gastrointestinal effects, but I'll probably stick to fig newtons on race day.

The little sidebar calendar was looking bare, so I ran.

I felt like I was running underwater today, but it felt good in the end. I even ran another quarter or half mile at the end, off the clock.

And we're signed up for the Fox Cities half marathon in September already. Not sure what I'm getting myself into.