Why I look at last year

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

I am not a very competitive person when it comes to running.  Ok, the truth is that I am not competitive at all when it comes to running. My goal?  Just finish the race in one piece. My bonus?  Not being last.  That being said, some would wonder why I am looking at last year's results for the Laporte Run the Bay 1/2 marathon in November? I mean it is possibly the first 1/2 I will run. ( I say possibly because it is part of the Toughest Bridge series in Southeast Texas.  There are two 10Ks that I am signed up for:  The Kemah Bridge toughest 10K and the Galveston Causeway Toughest 10K.  The last race in the series if the Laporte 1/2 mary that goes over the Fred Hartman Bridge. And I am not sure I want my first 1/2 mary to be considered tougher than normal.)

No, I am not trying to become one of the Youtube sensations that has a great motivating video about how they overcame all odds and not only ran their first half marathon but they actually won it also.  I love those stories and they really inspire me but that is not my calling.  But I do believe I can finish a race of this length.  My fear is that I can't finish it in the amount of time allowed.  This race has a 4 hour time limit.  I have four hours to run 13.1 miles.  To some that is a no brainer, to turtle pace me, that is an issue.

So I looked at the results from last year  to see if I how I compare to the slowest runner. That person finished in 4 hours 15 minutes with an average pace of  19:19.  So what does that mean to a person like me that has never ran a half marathon?  alot.  You see my brother in law sent me this Speed calculator.  You enter your most recent time for either a mile, 5K, 10K 1/2 mary or mary and it will calculate your anticipated pace for all other races.And based on my last race I should finish just under the gun at 3 hours and 53 minutes or an average pace of 17:53.  I don't consider that too shabby.  If I at least remain the same and not improve any by November 17th, the date of the race, I should finish before the deadline.

Don't get me wrong. I plan to continue improving and get faster but at least I feel confident that I can do this.  So if you don't know your pace or whether or not you will finish in the amount of time given, check out the speed calculator. It will also suggest your pace for endurance training, speed training, long distance training, anaerobic training and strength training..