Sat 4/18 - 1:40 incl. half marathon

Up, down, up and down and up and down some more on the roads and byways of Roanoke. The hyperbolic description of the toughest road marathon in the land probably applies to the half as well. Thankfully I drove the second half of the course yesterday getting a look at the Peakwood section of town, a neighborhood of stately homes perched on the side of a mountain with switchbacks and everything. The map and course profile really didn't do justice to how steep and unrelenting the hills were both up and down. After pre-waking the already early alarm by a good 90 minutes with an inflamed sore throat, not feeling particularly optimistic about how I would be able to handle the rigors of the distance with the course piled on top of that. Hoping for a less than competitive field and in the end that's what I got. Spent the first 8 miles of the race in third, figured that's where I would stay before passing the guy in second on the very first yawningly steep switchback of Peakwood road. He walked a few crucial steps, I didn't. Very competitive stuff. From there it was run away and hide, taking peeks at every corner to ensure no one was drawing closer. First major climb and descent up and over Mill mountain left my quads feeling quite pulverized, making the Peakwood/West Ridge climb and descent an exercise in using granny gear and tenderfooting it down. Took splits for the entertainment value, probably the widest spread of any half I've ever done:

5:54
6:36
7:31
6:34
5:33
5:57
6:53
6:56
7:34
6:50
6:40
6:01
7:22 last 1.1

One way to see the town I guess. A warm and sunny day, ended up fairly hot actually but the race started early enough that the worst of it was avoided.