D&H Distance Run Race Report (rail-trail half-marathon)

So i did a half-marathon today. phew got that one off my mind. I've been concerned about my running going into IMPM because i haven't been training running for awhile when the knee was injured and then since i started up again it hasn't been the best running of my life. And 13 miles after you have 57 miles on your legs isn't the easiest of tasks to complete.  Anyway, I had a good race. The morning leading up the race was a little rough I slept in longer than i thought i would. probably tired from yesterdays bike race. then I got a little lost on my drive up to the race. The gps left me miles away from where i needed to be but i got lucky and still found it but not with much time before the race. So I had to book it down to pick up my packet and get my chip on my shoe. head back to the car and drop off my stuff and get my ipod. No one was with me so i ran the entire race with my car keys in my hand. I was in the bathroom when i heard them call to lineup to start. so no warmup or stretching just hitting it. not ideal by any means but i didn't miss the race! I planned to run it conservatively at first and see how i felt getting in the later stages.  I haven't run more than 7 miles since June and there were many weeks where i did no running at all. I don't come from an endurance running background so to me 13.1 is still far! There was a nice sendoff of the runners onto the trail from the start but once you got on the trail it was pretty much up and the other runners. No spectators. although i was impressed with how much support then had on the race course for a trail run. They had someone giving you  splits at every mile marker and they have lots of guys on mountain bike patrolling the route to make sure everyone was ok.  there were medical tents on the trail. The only downside i saw was that they only had water at 5 places on the course or about every 2.25 miles.  I made the decision going in that i was just going to drink the elctrolyte drink off the course and not bring any food drink of my own because i honestly just didn't want to carry it.  It wasn't a hot day so i didn't think i would get into any kind of trouble doing it this way. I had the new red hot chili peppers album the aptly title "i'm with you" to accompany me on my journey through the woods and me and the peps were rockin. It was a very nice and scenic trail running through the woods and along the river. You cross a few wooden bridges but with all of the rain we had this week. the trail was wet and muddy so it was a little bit of a mud run. But happy to have the race instead of it being cancelled. I really like the tshirt i got too :)
 here are my splits - first number is the mile section is the time/avg pace.

1	00:09:07
2	00:10:22
3	00:10:40
4	00:10:24
5	00:10:43
6	00:10:10
7	00:10:06
8	00:09:29
9	00:09:41
10	00:10:03
11	00:09:38
12	00:09:55
13	00:09:45
14	00:01:09

  or the summary is that it took me 2 hours 10 minutes and 12 seconds. for an avg pace of 9.53 at an avg heart rate of 149. it as a relatively flat course with 272 ft of elevation gain.  I didn't feel like i had any real legs under me until mile 4 or 5.  but I felt stronger longer in the race than i have when doing half marathons in the pasted. Normally after about mile 9 or 10 i am ready to be done. this time I got to 11.5 miles before i started to feel that way and your so close at that point it was kinda of nice to know soon i would be done. around mile 12/12.5 i started to feel a little out of it. not sure if it was dehydration, mental fatigue or what but i did feel a little delirious. all of that changed when i saw the finished line. i still sprinted it home.  I probably could have used some more water during the race since it was still humid but otherwise i'm happy with the effort.  My knee didn't hurt during the run although i had them taped up. But after the race I could feel that they were used and/or abused. but i haven't had time to sit or rest all day since the race either. Which has been a good sign i am not as wrecked as i thought i would be. Tomorrow might be a rest day or i might go and make up the swim workout that i missed last week because of the flooding.