Eugene Half 2013

I was registered for the Eugene Half (on 4/28/13) before ever deciding to do L.A. I knew 6 weeks might not be enough time to both recover and do half-specific workouts, and took that under consideration before signing up for L.A. If L.A. didn't go well, Eugene might not either, as a cause-effect relationship. But you only live once. After the marathon PR last Fall, which was my major quest the last couple years, I became more open to taking chances. So that's that.

Eugene is such a great race. For one, I e-mailed the elite athlete coordinator and got a free entry. I'm not exactly an elite athlete, and neither are most they let in for free. But it's super-cool that they care about having a quality field, and recognize that a lot of fast runners, especially younger ones, don't have big bucks to spend on entry fees, and therefore might miss quality events like this. It also means there are people to run with up front, no big gaps like at L.A. (which had a pitiful field for a race that size in a city that size; I finished 29th overall with the 2:41).

For two, their courses are well-measured, well-marked, and accurate. I did not even feel the need to wear a Garmin, because after doing the half on at least two other occasions, it always came out spot-on. One goal here was to erase the memory of Vancouver Lake 3 months earlier, where an accurately measured course but misplaced turnaround cone on raceday made the course about a tenth short. Having run a great race there and finishing in 73:29 (which would be just over 74 if legit), I set my goal for Eugene at 73:59, knowing it would be legit.

I don't think I've ever experienced a moment of silence so silent as the one on the Eugene start-line for Boston bombing victims - there was some real energy and support in the thoughts of the crowd - very powerful. The weather was perfect, Craig Leon tried to fire the starting gun and after about 10 secs it finally went off, and despite this we were off cleanly. With no Garmin, I just keyed off some guys who'd told me they'd aim to start at 5:30, so I tried to stay about 10 secs back at mile 1 for my 5:40 goal. Close, but a tad quick. I was 10 secs back, but they must have been closer to 5:24 because I came through at 5:34. Mile 2 at 5:33. Gotta even it out.

Then 5:40/5:43/5:39(5)/5:27/5:40/5:40/5:44/5:50(10), so 56:32 thru 10 but I was fading fast. Ugh. Mental math told me I needed a 17:30 to be near 74-flat, dug down but didn't quite have it. The bike path was a grind, final 3.1 in 5:46/5:47/5:41/0:33, something like 74:22 on my watch. When I punched my bib into the laptops provided (another cool thing at this race), I saw the official result: 74:20 - 5:40.2 per mile.

So I was 21 seconds off my goal time, a little over 1.5 secs/mile. I knew it was all in the final 5 miles, I knew I had positive splitted pretty bad, I knew I'd started slightly fast, I knew toward the end I just didn't have it but pushed with everything I did have, and actually salvaged a decent final mile. But at least the course was right, the competition was good, the weather was perfect, and the weekend was a lot of run. Eugene, I'll be back! It's one of my favorite races around here.

Big congrats to my buddy Dan Lenski for running a 4-min marathon PR at Eugene: 2:39:10 with very even splits. Well done, Dan!