Real David H.

I went for a PR, had that pace going for 6 miles, but I just couldn’t quite hold it together to get there for my 7th Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. 

And I’m perfectly OK with that.

A year removed from my personal worst Shamrock, I rebounded to improve my time by 6 minutes from 2013 and also came less than 3 minutes from a PR, set in 2012.

After nearly a year and a half of races that left me feeling underwhelmed, I’m excited to finish today in 1:43:10, my 3rd fastest half out of 20 since 2007.

I did very little speedwork this winter, I missed a few runs because of snow and I’ve certainly had much less sleep in the past several months with a baby who still won’t sleep through the night.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could hold my PR pace for so long today — after the turn back toward the finish and hitting some wind, my legs just didn’t have enough to keep that pace. I knew heading in that even getting close to a PR would be difficult, and now I’m leaving my favorite race with a renewed sense of confidence and the knowledge of what I need to do to get closer to breaking 1:40 in a half.

All previous six Shamrocks have set the tone for the year, both good and bad. Now is a great time for that tradition to continue and do some great things in 2014 …