Dirty 2nd Half, October 3, 2009

This was my second half marathon.  The "Dirty Half" is held in Spring, and the "Second dirty Half"in the fall.  Cute, eh?  Since 2009, the race has been changed to the Down and Dirty Half.  Here's the link to the 2013 Registration.

Technically, this was my 4th Marathon, if you count the Portland Marathon as 2 half marathons.

I ran it in 1:36:15, which was 1minute 42seconds  faster than the Spring Half marathon. Both are trail marathons with 1000 feet of hills the first time, 1600 feet in the fall.  The net elevation gain was 950 feet or so.  As far as i can tell, from analytically retentive review of the results, I'm the only runner who ran in both, who was faster in the fall.  I guess the course is a little harder, I trained a lot, and had a good day.

In any event, I improved in the second dirty half, with most of the competition dropping from 1-4 minutes back from their time in the "Dirty Half."

It was 25 at race time, and I was a bit chilled after a 7 mile bike ride to the race.

I went out steadily but allowed people ("allowed?") to run by me after a bit, and settled in and held my position up the 6 mile climb. I had to stop to tie my shoe (doh), and slowed at a feed station and took two little sips of water.

I passed probably 5 runners on the way up, and another 4 on the way down, and I finished a respectable 28th out of 320.  I was 2nd in the 40-45 age group, but that guy was a studly 5 minutes ahead of me.

My gps shows elevation gain as 1300 total feet of climbing, but the race director's altimiter (more accurate) shows as much greater.  I'm going with the big number.  Makes me feel better about myself.

Fun, nice to improve.
Morrison Luke Smith

(c) Morrison Luke Smith