Brad MinusI am a USAT Level I Certified Triathlon Coach, a Healthy Running Certified Running Coach, a Lydiard Level II Certified Running Coach and an RRCA Certified Running Coach. I am also certified in Personal Sports Nutrition and am working toward being a certified Obstacle Course Coach as well.My clients tend to be new runners and triathletes in the over 40 age groups that are looking to finish their first endurance challenges, reach for that first podium finish, or just strive to get better. I get such a euphoric high, watching clients, and friends, cross that finish line. The smiles on their faces knowing they just conquered their goals feels so much better than crossing the finish line myself.

The First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon was 3 weeks ago.  I completed this last year and ended up with a Personal Record(PR).   Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out the same this year, BUT….I had a great time and that is all that matters in the long run.  (“long run”…pardon my punny sense of humor)

Last year the race was crowded, but it didn’t sell out till the last minute, this year it sold out a lot earlier, but thanks to a blogger friend of mine, Denise (deniseisrundmt.com), I ran this race for free.  I just love my run blogging buddies.

This year the corral was so packed we couldn’t even move through the sea of runners to get to the section assigned to my pace.  Luckily, I had Beth (Discombobulatedrunning.com) and Caitlyn (livesweatsleeprepeat.com) to share the chaos with.

It was great to hear a familiar voice over the loudspeaker this year, as it is the same voice I hear at every Ironman event I have been to.  I am not sure, but I think his name is Mike Reilly.  If I am wrong please leave me a comment and correct me.

I did make a mistake this year which cost me.  I went out with Beth thinking

that I would just have a nice aerobic run and then things changed.

I got caught up in the beautiful views off the bridge and the architecture downtown, which didn’t hold well even though I was comfortable at that point.he energy.

We were about 4 miles in when she says to me, “You can go if you want to.”

” Nah, I would rather just stick with you and do this nice and easy” I replied.

Because our pace was faster than we were planning, she then exclaimed, “It sure looks like you want to.”

Something about that sentence tugged at me a bit, so I told her “ok” and took off.

I should have been a little bit concerned when the next four miles were a consistent 7:50 pace and I still ended up with 9:09 mile after waiting to go to the restroom at mile 8.

Of course at mile 9, things started to get heavy.  I knew I wasn’t in-shape to run that fast, but I did it anyway and it cost me.

What was really embarrassing is getting chicked after mile 11 when I saw the multi-color Lululemon shorts of Beth pass me.

Really?  Seriously?  Did I really slow down that much?

I yelled to her and didn’t receive an answer, which she later told me she decided to negative splits.

I came across at 1:50:39, exhausted.  It was a respectable performance, but not great.  I did keep my average of being in the upper 50% of my competitive age division.

Lesson re-learned – know thy pace, stay consistent, only commit to negative splits with 5k to go stick to the plan.

It was great to see my buddies Nick & Ben take First Overall in the Relay.

Actually Nick passed on the first bridge as we were going out and he was finishing his leg.  He looked really strong.

Have you ever had a race where you made mistakes, even though you consciously knew better ?

Let me know in the comments below.

Carpe Vitam!

~IronGoof