Kansas Half Marathon

I did my second half marathon this past weekend in Lawrence, KS. It was the Kansas Half Marathon. It went pretty well, but was not without its problems for me. I started out really well and through about 7 or 8 miles I was on pace to finish in well under 1:40. However, then the route took me up a pretty big hill right in the middle of the University of Kansas campus and it pretty much cracked me. The hill may not be that big, but it sure seemed like it. At about mile 11 I started getting a pretty bad cramp in my right side, which hasn't happened to me in years so I was pretty disappointed in that. From then on I was pretty much in a mode where I just wanted to finish without stopping, so my time suffered compared to earlier parts of the race. I finished with a time of 1:41:45, so despite the problems I had the improvement over my first half marathon pleased me. I'm also pretty sure that this race was slightly longer than a half marathon because my Garmin information I uploaded to Strava told me that I finished the half marathon distance in 1:41:07. I don't have another half marathon until my last one on May 11, so until then it is back to working on my bike fitness. I'd like to finish that last run in under 1:40, so I'll have to keep squeezing in runs between riding my bike. I have my first road race in years this weekend in Leavenworth, KS, so hopefully that goes well. I'll be doing the category 4 race since when I renew my license I'll be a cat 4, so hopefully I don't disappoint myself with whatever happens. I'd really like to think I have the potential to finish well with how much I feel like I've been training, but I don't really know what to expect.