Daytona Beach Half Marathon Results

My head is still spinning this morning after a great race yesterday in Daytona Beach, but I thought I would put up a quick post with my results.

1:52:07

That’s an average 8:34 pace.

I placed 162nd overall and 24th in my age group.

My best mile was mile 13 at 8:05, the slowest was the first mile at 9:07.

I beat the bridge so bad that its still quivering today after the pounding my feet gave it.

I exceeded my goal for the race by a comfortable margin.

I’ll post more details soon.

New Route Announced for Daytona Beach Half Marathon

It must be official because I got the email announcement today and when I tried to access their website, it had crashed. I’m sure everyone must have been trying to check it out right away, just like me.

I finally got a look at the new route this evening and I’m pleased.

The race starts and ends inside the Daytona International Speedway.

I'm not a huge NASCAR fan, but its hard not to take an interest when you live this close to Daytona.  I've never actually been inside the Speedway, so that alone will be an experience. 

We will not be able to race on the track because of repaving, but we will run a little over 2 miles through the infield. After that we will exit the Speedway and run east towards the Atlantic Ocean on International Speedway Blvd. (US 92).

At about Mile 6 we will cross the Hallifax River via this bridge to get beachside. We will get a very brief view of the ocean at Sun Splash Park before making the turn and heading back toward the Speedway, crossing the Hallifax Bridge again at Mile 8.

With the exception of the two bridge crossings, it should be a pretty flat, fast course.

You pays your money, you takes your chances

My wallet is a little lighter today because I just registered for the Daytona Beach Half Marathon on Halloween. This will be my second half marathon and with one month left in my marathon training, it will be a good test of how well my marathon training is going.

I ran the Gasparilla Half Marathon in 2:16 in February and I think I have a very good chance of breaking 2:00 for this race.

The course is interesting in that it starts and finishes at the Daytona Speedway. Historically, the route began and ended on the racetrack and included a lap around the 2.5 mile track. Since the track is undergoing repaving the route has been changed for this year. We are still guaranteed a “race track experience” whatever that means. The new route should be made available any day now.

From the speedway we will run to the beach and back, so there will be two bridge crossings near the middle of the race.

I’m back on schedule in my marathon training. I ran this morning for the third day in a row and had no pain in my knee, even when I accelerated to about a 7:40 pace for the last ¾ mile.

My training program originally included three 20 milers, but after the hiccup I experienced over the past few weeks, one of those has been scrubbed. If all goes well I will have 20 milers the weekend before and after this race and then start my taper for Space Coast Marathon on November 28.  Looks like I’ll be carb loading over Thanksgiving. Like I need an excuse. :)

I will rest tomorrow and do 17 miles on Sunday. I must be a little sick in the head because I am really looking forward to this long run.

Daytona Firecracker 4 Miler

This morning was the running of the Daytona Beach Firecracker 4 Miler sponsored by the Daytona Beach Track Club. The race is an out and back course beginning at the Main Street Pier. It runs 2 miles north, you turn, and then sprint back to the pier. There is something brutally honest about a course like this, especially on the return leg when you can see the pier two miles away.

Temperatures were in the mid 70’s at 7:30 am for the race start. Thunderstorms were forecast but fortunately they stayed offshore so we were blessed with overcast skies and a moderate breeze. This is a relatively small event and I think the foul weather forecast kept some people at home.

My daughter and I arrived about 30 minutes early for packet pickup. The goodies included a souvenir beach towel and other sundries packaged in a plastic sand bucket and shovel, very cute. I had just enough time for a quick warm up run before heading to the starting line. This was my first run in the sand and I was a little concerned about how I would handle it. The race followed the water line where the sand is fairly hard packed. It had some give in it, but it made a decent running surface. The beach was littered with jellyfish left by the tide. They are harmless but a little slick if your foot lands on one.

This was my first short race since 2006 so I was unsure how well I would perform.  The lack of experience showed in a very fast (for me) first mile – 7:30. That was the fastest mile I had ever recorded so I was both ecstatic and concerned that I was starting out too fast. At about 13:30 I passed the front runners on their way back to the pier from the turnaround. I reached the mid-point at 16:42 with a ho-hum 9:11 split, the cost of starting out too fast. Mile three started to get tough. The pier is immediately visible from the turnaround at 2 miles but the distance was hard to judge, especially with the visibility clouded by windswept sand and salt spray. I was also beginning to feel the fatigue caused by running in the sand. The slight slope of the beach toward the water, which I had hardly noticed in the first two miles was also becoming an irritant.

I hit the third mile marker at 26:10 for a split time of 9:28 and it was time to push hard for the finish. I reached the finish chute at 33:38 sprinting to stay ahead of another runner I could hear hot on my heels. My final split was a much improved 7:27, which broke my short lived one mile PR by 3 whole seconds. My average pace for the race was 8:25.

After the race I caught up with some of the other members of the West Volusia Runners and exchanged war stories. We had about 8 or 10 people running. Then my daughter and I hit the surf and took a quick dip in the Atlantic. The water was refreshingly cold.

There were bagels, oranges and bananas waiting for us at the awards area. We stayed to hear the announcements and learned the winner crossed the finish line at 22 minutes and change. Very impressive.

My Budding Young Sport's Photographer