Fort Yargo Offroad Half Marathon 2012

I look forward to this race every year.  It's a challenging trail with a little bit of everything, and I love running out at Fort Yargo. This is the third time I have run this race.  Here are my results from those other years.

2009-  2:17:00
2011-  2:03:44

I missed the 2010 race because we flew to New Hampshire to mourn the loss Mary Ruth's brother Ben. Ben passed on February 26, 2010.  Ben always loved the outdoors and he was a great natural runner.  So now I use this race as a way to remember Ben.  I wear all black o race in, and I pretty much occupy my thoughts during the race on remembering him, and the times we shared together.

Last year, I had a real goal to finished in 1:55:00, but a twisted ankle left me hobbling the last 4 miles of the race, and I just came in almost 10 minutes shy of my goal.  I was disappointed.

Fast forward to this year.  I have been running a lot lately training for this 50k.  My training schedule this week looked like this.

Monday-      Run 6.58 miles / 1 hour
Tuesday-      Run 6.76 miles / 1 hour
Wednesday- Run 6.43 miles / 1 hour
Thursday-     Run 6.4 miles / 1 hour
Friday-         Rest
Saturday-     Fort Yargo 1/2 Marathon

So between Monday-Thursday I had a marathon on my legs.  Could I run a a sub 2 hour half and set a 4 minute PR? Could I do this while bringing my weekly total to 39 miles.  I was getting ready to find out.

At 8:30 am the race started and the first mile is on park road to thin out the heard.  After that you disappear into the woods for the 12 mile mountain bike loop.  This loop has a little bit of everything as far as trail running goes..  I was utilizing the Vega Sport electrolyte powder in the handheld water bottle, and a Vega Sport gel every 45 minutes.  It was cold at the start and I kept a constant pace.  The biggest disappointment during the race was the amount of time the Garmin did not pick up reception.  I am really considering not racing with the Garmin at all.  I had to mentally fight want the Garmin was saying and trust my body.

I did feel like I struggled just a bit on the uphills. I started to tighten up a little at mile 11.  I knew it was going to be close.  I started to press.  At 1:59: I hit the 13 mile mark.  I came around that final corner and started sprinting.  Mary Ruth was yelling at me, and I just hit another gear.  1:59:36...  We did it Ben.  We did it.