Seattle Half Marathon PR Race Report

I ran the Seattle Marathon on November 25.

I was originally going to name this post "Seattle Half Rainathon...NOT"
It was completely gorgeous if not a little chilly,. I would have liked it about 5 degrees warmer but that's about it. Completely clear, and no breeze to speak of.
Fashion report:
Blue Nike sphere-dry T under a North Face WindWall jacket, blue nike shorts, nike visor, NB 857, Garmin 305
Black hat and gloves for warmup miles
BTW the finisher medal is prophetic...the sun rising behind the Space Needle. That's what I saw walking from my car.

This morning I was up around 4:30, unable to sleep. Last year I barely made the start of the race, so this time I was determined to get there on time. This year, there's no traffic at all, and I park down near the Key. There was a permanent potty down there, but when a couple runners starting using it, this homeless guy starts telling everyone to get lost, because it's a homeless potty. Whatever
I'm there a whole hour early this time. I go find the main potties, then come back to the car to relax.
Of course I have to go again right before the start. I go with less than 60 seconds before the gun. "Crap in 60 seconds".

Well the gun goes off. I see the 2:20 pacer. I'm thinking that 2:20 is more realistic for me that the 2:18 I posted here, so I try to keep them in sight. Unfortunately I can't get through the start until they're long gone.

First mile 10:23. I'm feeling pretty good and loose. Then comes trouble.
Mile 2 8:43...close if not my best mile split ever. But I feel a pain in my back which decides to spasm on the downhill. It feels like a spear from my back through my chest. I'm thinking that if I'm having an issue, I'm going to have to pull over
Mile 3 10:42 I actually catch the 2:20 pacer! I jump the barrier because there's a big pileup behind her. My back is feeling better.
Mile 4 10:30 I start losing her again.
Mile 5 10:28 I have no idea what happened to the pacer, and I never see them again. It's possible that I passed her. I don't know.
The tunnel feels warm, but the sun has now risen above the fog on the Eastside.. I don't know how accurate 4/5 are, it might be an average. I feel like each mile should be about 10+ secs longer.
Mile 6 10:49 This is like the doldrums of the race, although the view over the lake of the rising sun is spectacular. I also get a bit of a side stitch which lasts for a little while but fortunately clears up.
Mile 7: 10:56 You can tell I'm starting to flag a little. I eat a pack of Sport Beans and some Gatorade. I pass the 1/2 marker and the clock says 1:16....right where I was last year at that point.
Mile 8: 11:25 The infamous Galer. I run it, but my HR is shooting up
Mile 9: 10:27 An up-and-down section. My pace is starting to return
Mile 10: 10:53 I take a potty break when I come across a set of 5 which are all unbelievably empty. I'm in and out in a blink. Afterwards I feel a burst of energy and I really push it up the rest of the hill
Mile 11: 10:46 Still feeling good, hoping to ride it while it lasts.
Mile 12: 10:41 My left hip starts hurting. I think its from the extreme camber of some of these streets. I'm just hitting that hip a lot harder. I really start the fatigue setting in so I down some shot blocks.
Mile 13: 10:29 I frankly don't know how I managed this time. Probably from stumbling down the downhill sections. The uphills here are brutal, even though they're not big. I do feel a small burst of energy before the last little hill, but that hill completely drains it.
.1 My Garmin thinks I ran 13.43. I think it got messed up in the tunnel.

So here are the happy totals:
Previous Course time: 2:39:01
Current PR: 2:26:15
New PR: 2:21:45

I beat my previous PR by 4:30 and 21 secs/mile...and my course record by 17+ minutes.
I got really close to the 2:18 that was posted too.
I just checked the site...apparently my chip didn't register at the start...so I can't get accurate 1/2 way splits. My second split was 1:10:18 so I'm assuming the first was 1:11:27...a negative?? Kewl.

Aside from the weird pains I had, my concern is that I ran this at an avg HR of 170 vs Seafair at 165. I know part of it is from pushing harder at the end, but I'd like to see it come down a little for this kind of race.

More notes:

Name	Overall Place	Division Place	Age	Chip Time	Official Time	Split 1	Split 2
Andrew Rosenberg	2235/2659	315/405	40	02:21:45.3	02:26:11.7	01:11:26.6	01:10:18.7