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We ran the Covered Bridges Half Marathon this weekend in Woodstock, Vermont.  We stayed at the Lincoln Inn, with a friendly innkeeper and delicious Asian Fusion restaurant (Mangowood) for dinner.  The area was scenic and quaint, made even more enjoyable by our knowledgeable and fun friend Heather, who went to Law School nearby and joined us for the weekend.

Our goal was to break 2 hours.  The day’s weather report promised a cool sunny morning.  One hiccup – we thought the race started a bit earlier than the actual 10:15 start, so it was warmer than expected.  Despite the higher temps, we still ran a solid and enjoyable race.  As Brian commented while logging our splits, he is the “pacehorse” for my somewhat overly enthusiastic early race adrenaline.  Here’s the run-down.

mile 1: 9:01 (congested start – we suggest that the race organizers should “bin” the start instead of allowing walkers mixed in with the front of the pack.  It was hard to pass the bunched up hoardes even with a “chip time” start delay of ~ 1 min until we reached the starting line)

mile 2: 8:38 (note the beginning of the trend)

mile 3: 8:37 (steady pace as we enter Woodstock – the frontrunners were coming out of Woodstock over a mile ahead of us)

mile 4: 8:38 (loop around town – same pace)

mile 5: 8:33 (start down River Road, soft gravel surface with some shade)

mile 6: 8:31 (keep going along the river)

mile 7: 8:15 (we were inspired by the band playing “Good Lovin'” – it’s hard not to run faster when you’re doing jazz hands – and also we’d had our first electrolytes kick in)

mile 8: 9:02 (water break then steep uphill!)

mile 9: 8:30 (start the downhill slide to the finish)

mile 10: 8:38 (there it is again!)

mile 11: 8:31 (feeling good!)

mile 12: 8:48 (time to put it into cruise control!)

mile 13+ : 9:30 (considering this was 1.1 miles and we stopped for a 15 second shoelace tie, that makes it – you guessed it! – 8:38 pace)

total: 1:53:10 official “chip time” – search for Judd or Woodmansee, we’re right together in the race results.

We also want to give a shout out to our friend Sarah Sheldon who ran her first 5K race this weekend, and to my sister-in-law Sarah who won her softball tourney this weekend.  It is even more fun to know our friends are getting out during the weekend, being active and seeing the fruits of our training!