Chicago Rock n Roll Half Marathon 70 degrees, stormy, and very humid. 6:30am 2-mile mark in 11:07.0 5-mile mark in 27:47.3 6-mile mark in 32:54.9 (5:07.6) 7-mile mark in 38:59.3 (6:03.4) 8-mile mark in 44:34.9 (5:36.6) 9-mile mark in 50:26.6 (5:51.7) 10-mile mark in 55:51.2 (5:24.6) 11-mile mark in 1:01:38 (5:47.6) 12-mile mark in 1:07:23 (5:44.6) Last stretch in 6:34.9 -- Finish in 1:13:58, 8th place overall, 1st place in the 25-29 bracket A 5:07 followed by a 6:03. Great pacing! But really, very pleased. Veeeery pleased with the old gams today. I was hoping to go maybe 1:16 the way training's been going. But nah, I was gifted with fresh legs on this day. And for the first time in my life, I sat on other runners instead of the other way around. Down long windy stretches (Chicago), sat myself behind guys for a solid half mile till we reached a turn, then I'd peel off and work my way to the next group/dude. Started a decent ways back from the top pack, so I had plenty of people to chase and abuse for the first 6-7 miles. I think the big lesson here is I can still run a solid race even after practically a month of spotty, frustrating training as long as I do proper damage control. There's a core of fitness I can rely on that I need to trust won't evaporate if I'm not constantly hammering away at full speed, week after week. And damage control requires listening to my body and deviating from the plan when necessary. That can mean skipping a big workout to crosstrain or eating 1400 calories of hamburger and fries for dinner to kill a bonk.