Cascade Half Marathon

The Cascade Half Marathon has become an annual race for me...it's really good motivation to start training hard in the late fall and winter months. Like the Pain Train, it's also where I went to high school...it's fun to come back and see familiar faces and run on familiar roads...and those roads are flat and fast.

This is a race that Tonya always comes to...she's managed to get a picture of me finishing every year...except this one when I was looking my best!

2005 - 1:33:13 - Looks like I'm about to collapse.

2006 - 1:26:35 - Redemption for the 2005 race.

2007 - 1:24:27 - Dry but cold...and the Pain Train showing off his hardware.

2008 - 1:21:36 - Fog...no wind!

2009
Mile 1 - 5:50 - The first mile felt great...under control...but I was shooting for closer to 6:00, so I backed off the pace slightly.
Mile 2 - 6:05 - I ended up running the next two miles with Ken Vendley...he was also shooting for a 6:00 pace.
Mile 3 - 6:07 - At mile 3 the pace felt a little too slow...so I slowly pulled away from Ken.
Mile 4 - 5:57 - That's more like it.
Mile 5 - 6:05 - I caught and passed Thomas Goodwin somewhere around here...he's been a measuring stick for me in the past...he finished just ahead of me at the Capitol Mile and past Cascade Half Marathons.
Mile 6 - 5:57 - First thoughts of..."am I going too fast."
Mile 7 - 5:45 - I hit the half-way point in this mile, turned, and headed into what felt like a strong headwind...I thought, "oh crap"...it really felt like I was slowing down, so I was really pumped when I hit mile 7 in 5:45...my fastest mile.
Mile 8 - 6:03 - Mile 7 was a little fast so I backed off slightly.
Mile 9 - 5:53 - I passed Michael Graham somewhere around here, I think...I started thinking about the headwind coming up, so I pushed harder knowing these next couple miles would be a little easier.
Mile 10 - 5:50 - Thought it was pretty cool to hit the 10 mile mark in under 1 hour.
Mile 11 - 5:58 - Started really thinking about the headwind coming up.
Mile 12 - 6:11 - My slowest mile..."be the wind."
Mile 13 - 6:02 - I'm sure the wind wasn't that bad, but it seemed like it was...I felt like I was leaning into it and it was holding me up.
Finish - 1:18:23 - I felt great when I finished...I want to say I could have held that pace a little longer!

I also want to give a shout out to my crew for some superbad performances...all PR's!
Pain Train - 1:20:55
Dennis Gamroth - 1:30:58
Ryan Terlecki - 1:38:23
Kurtis Drake - 1:43:32

So I lost another bet with the Pain Train, wore the shirt again, and ran another great race...I'm happy about the race results, but when can we bet on a road race?