Last year I won the half marathon in 1:16. This year, I had an even better race, with a 1:14:51. However, it was not enough to win today. Still, I am very happy with the time and the way I ran.
The race started with a relaxed 3:38 first kilometer. After that, Chris Stone, Dusty Spiller, Adrian Christ and myself formed a group by ourselves. We picked up the pace a bit and passed 5 km at 17:45. I felt great. The pace was easy and I stayed behind Chris and Dusty, just “drafting”. We dropped Adrian after a while, and the three of us hit 10 km at 35:45. Still felt very easy.
Next, we went down towards the island, and I could not keep up with Chris and Dusty on the down hill. Around the island, Dusty made a move, and Chris tried to go with him. I was a bit behind, trying to not stress out about the sudden gaps that were forming between the 3 of us.
I know this course well, and I know I’m weak running on gravel. So I figured I’d start chasing once we get out on the bike trail again. At about 13 km, I got close to Chris but Dusty was still moving fast. I passed Chris, who didn’t hang on to me, and went as hard as I could to try and chase Dusty down. I got closer at 14-15 km, but now it was getting hard. I pretty much ran as hard as I possibly could, but I didn’t get any closer.
In fact, Dusty pulled away a lot more on the last 2 km. He won in 1:14:04, and I got in as 2nd at 1:14:51, which I think is my fastest half marathon in 13 years. Not bad for a 42-year old guy!
My friend Brendan Lunty dominated the marathon, and won in 2:40:22. My friends from Camrose – Gerhard, David Ball (Edmonton), Alvin, Lori, Jason, Graeme ran great races too. Alvin PB’d! Strong showing by Camrose runners!
A great day for running! Weather was perfect, and this race is great. The organizers do a terrific job!
Top 5 Results Half Marathon
1/912 SPILLER, DUSTY 01:14:04.55 2/912 REMNAN, ROBERT 01:14:51.10 3/912 STONE, CHRIS 01:15:52.95 4/912 CHRIST, ADRIAN 01:17:44.45 5/912 FULLER, JONATHAN 01:18:45.45
