Chris and I ran the Heartbreak Ridge half marathon at Camp Pendelton. We both competed in the clydesdale class for runners over 200lbs. Based on the last couple of years results I felt that I had a pretty good shot at placing in the top three, but it wasn't to be. I placed fourth with a chip time of 01:45:28. Not bad but I was hoping to go under 01:40:00. The winning clydesdale won in a very respectable 01:35:14. Second place was right behind in 01:35:49 and third place finished with a gun time of 01:41:09 and a chip time of 01:46:06. It's unusual to see a gun time faster then a chip time, actually I'm not sure how that would happen. The course was tough but it wasn't the the races namesake hill that got me. Being an out and back course so we went over the "big" hill twice but the thing that got me was that the turn around point was the low point of the course so we were pretty much climbing from 6.5 miles back to the the "big" hill at around mile 10.5. Over all I thought the race was well organized and I liked the course, it's also the only race that I've run with the sound of machine gun fire in the background. I'd definitely like to give it a shot again next year.
For now I'm looking forward to the City to the Sea half marathon next month. It's a notoriously fast course and I'm hoping to get well below 01:40:00.
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