Ran this race on November 6, 2016 for the first time. As we say here in Lincoln, I ran my HALFSY off! It's HALF the length of the full marathon but TWICE the fun! Or Don't Worry, Run Halfsy! (the cleverest marketing motto of all of this race). This is a slightly unusual point-to-point half-marathon which featured 6000 awesome runners this year. Unusual because well you might see pink gorillas. (Pink Gorilla Events is a co-sponsor). This race fills up VERY FAST so the most important thing I can tell you is this: if you want to run this, sign up right away. It sells out quickly. Procrastination kept me from registering on time last year before it sold out. The pre-race vibes were impressive at Seacrest Field in east Lincoln where the race began. A large number of volunteers and race organizers assisted and made this an amazing pleasant experience for all of us. Very tall pace banners greeted us along with many festive signs. The Snapchat geofilters were impressive for this race, too (I used the official one a few times at the race start which cloaked snaps with a 13.1 miles to go with the race logo.) I promised myself I would not "snap" the race on Snapchat but did snap video of going through the starting chute so I could remember what it looked and felt like. Then I put my phone in airplane mode for the entire race.

My goal for this race was to PR it. My previous PR was 1:39 from 1999 (Lincoln Half-Marathon).

Near 8:30 am, they lined us up a few minutes early. The national anthem was played and sung. A wheelchair athlete started about 5 minutes before us.

Then at 8:30, the starter gun fired and we were off! The start is in waves, they let about 100 or so runners go at once. I was fortunate to be in the first wave with the 7:00 pace group (marked by a very tall large banner, making for a great visual and beautiful photos). I had memorized most of the course other than the beginning but the beginning 5k or so seemed familiar from other Lincoln Track Club races I have run here.

There is a little uphill in the beginning of this race (not significant, but enough). We had beautiful weather for the race, the temp was about 50 so I was able to shed my warmup jacket and just wear my Galloway run-walk shirt, a visor, shorts, compression sleeves, and my Mizuno shoes. But I did wear gloves for the beginning of the race (my 2004 NYC Marathon gloves). I did wear these thin gloves for about 6 miles and they helped keep my hands warm. There were 6 water/aid stations that provided water, Gatorade, gel (only at mile 8), and toilets. Although I told myself I wasn't going to stop for water, I did stop for water a few times to make sure my OrangeMud bottle didn't completely run dry.

My run-walk strategy for the race was to use about 3:00 in strategic walk breaks whenever I felt I needed them to drop my heart rate and conserve energy, putting me in position for a PR.

The race begins on 70th Street in east Lincoln, runners wind south to about Pioneers Boulevard, then we turned west towards Holmes Lake.

I made a smart strategic decision to wear the 1:35 pace band. I tried to run those splits or less as often as possible, making sure the first mile was not too fast.

My first mile was a little slower than 7:00, significantly the second mile was 6:59 and running under the 7:25 target from the pace band helped a lot in helping reel in this PR. My first 5k split was 21:47, a little off 5k PR pace but fast. I do remember taking my first short walk break right after 5k.

At about 4 miles, runners run by Holmes Lake (lake on your left) so beautiful scenery and very familiar territory for runners who run around the lake. We run some of our Galloway runs here. By the 5 mile mark, runners are leaving Holmes Lake area, heading for the finish on Normal Boulevard. This is the point where the Halfsy course has great congruence with the Lincoln full marathon course (runners return from Holmes Lake on Normal Boulevard also).

I decided to try to run with the 1:35 pacers as much as possible since I was wearing the 1:35 wristband and running with the 1:40 group was impractical as I wanted to ensure that I could make the PR happen. So for at least 10 miles or so, I had 1:35 pacers running with me or within sight. At no point did any of the 1:40 pacers pass me. The 1:35 pacers were running about 1:34 pace, negative splitting each split slightly to stay under.

I had a special fondness for the 6 mile mark (close to halfsy of the Halfsy) as I made the point to stop there the day before the race to snap a picture of it to remember where it was. I was surprised these mile splits seemed to be flying by a little faster than I was expecting. And I was running under almost all the suggested 1:35 splits.

I was impressed that the race had five major cheer stations. They were very helpful and supportive with music, signs, encouragement, high-fives, thunder sticks, musical instruments, cowbells, noisemakers of all sorts and lots of people concentrated in the cheer stations. These were very helpful in picking us up when we needed it. Forgot to mention there is a brilliant "smile station" at Holmes Lake that a local dentist office runs during this race. They were trying to capture the best smiles on camera with runners going by, at least trying to encourage and support us to SMILE! It worked well! Great idea!

By 7 miles, runners reach 40th & South intersection with Normal Boulevard, realizing that much of the hard work is done and only 10k or so remaining.

At 8 miles, I did notice a little fatigue, so I inserted a short walk break maybe :30 or so. I also decided to walk through a few water stops to make sure fatigue didn't take over my race. Fortunately, 8 miles is near one of the major cheer stations so that helped offset some of the fatigue.

By 9 miles, runners are on Capitol Parkway running back towards downtown. Downtown highlights become visible, the State Capitol building primarily. Just seeing that Capitol building on the way back always gives runners a boost and it did help me realize we were getting closer to the finish.

At 10 miles, there is another cheer station. My middle 6.9 mile split was 51:49. This is a beautiful section of the course running along Antelope Valley Trail. I recall this cheer station being very festive, loud, helpful, encouraging, and supportive. So I accelerated a little. I was feeling wind in my sails.

I can't remember when my Garmin gave me my heart rate data but I recall seeing +8 meaning that I was doing well controlling my heart rate in a race. It's a dramatic jump. I had run a warmup mile with the dog before the race and I know my heart rate was higher during that mile.

By 10 miles, the remainder of the race course was familiar to me as I had run it with our Galloway group a week ago. Between 10-11 miles, runners enter Salt Creek Roadway for a short loop before reaching Charleston Street, passing through residential neighborhoods. We did run by the State Arsenal, that's an interesting highlight.

During this last 5k of the race, I was a little frustrated with my splits. I was struggling slightly to stay under 8:00 per mile, knowing that I had a little time in the bank from that fastest 2nd mile. But I was trying not to slow down too much.

On Charleston Street, I noticed runners were passing me and I decided to let most of them go, except for one who was pacing me who suddenly stopped. I immediately told her: you got this! She was exhausted.
I made the strategic decision here to conserve as much energy as possible for the uphill climb to the L-I-N-C-O-L-N bridge (yes it says that on the side and it's an actual Strava segment that I've run before).

It's important if you run this to save energy for that last LINCOLN bridge/hill. There's a sweet downhill on the other side of the bridge where you can accelerate, coast, glide, and cruise.

When I reached mile 12, I realized the PR was right there for the taking, I just had to execute my plan.

Very close to mile 13, runners reach the LINCOLN bridge, turning and running uphill to crest it. By this point, I knew the PR was going to happen so I turned on the jets and accelerated, using the downhill to bank a little more time and stay under PR pace. Descending on the other side by Pinnacle Bank Arena, I became very excited about the crowd, the finish being visible, finally being able to crush and slay a 17 year-old half PR dragon. The finish of the race is on Canopy Street and runners are videostreamed to a very large monitor near the Railyard so you can see your family/friends finishing on a big screen. When I reached the finish, I was elated to see the finish time of 1:38:19, more than a minute under my previous half PR. Walk breaks baby! The walk breaks work!

After finishing, I walked to receive my medal from a helpful volunteer, walking gently, slowly, grabbing food (cookies, chocolate milk, bananas, bagels), and quickly told my family the results. My wife texted me back telling me I got 8th in my age group (45-49). I couldn't believe it. For an asthmatic runner, it was an amazing race. 222nd place out of 6000 runners, 165th among men, 8th in AG. My third consecutive PR race in 3 weeks.

The race volunteers offered me a post-race aluminum blanket which I accepted and that helped warm me a little. It did help to wear a visor during this race (I wore my Galloway one). It was sunny.

After the race, we were treated to a free beer (just remember to bring your ID to the finish), results printout, and food galore.

Oh I forgot my last 5k split was 24:42, slower than the first 5k but adequate for the PR. 1:38:19 officially (7:30 pace or 7:28 according to Garmin since I ran 13.2, almost ran the tangents).

I rode the free bus from the finish after eating and drinking and meeting other runners. It was an amazing local and regional celebration! I met a runner from Minnesota who is a fellow Run the Year participant with me. He had a great race.

The busses took us back to our parking place at the start and we were able to easily get home from there. There is a little bit of a traffic jam when you arrive for the course to park. I parked in a parking lot near Seacrest (commercial) only a few blocks away. Got a spot pretty easily. But come early for parking. More than adequate port-o-lets at the start, finish (many restrooms too here), and along the course.

If you love downtown Lincoln, the Haymarket, the Railyard, you're going to love this race. Lots of family fun! Saw lots of kids out watching their parents. Some of the older kids ran the race, too. Fun for all ages!

Highly recommend the Halfsy to anyone! Want to run it again, hopefully next year. Enjoy!

After the race, they had photographers who took our picture for free and they just uploaded those to Facebook for free use. We got to pick which color backdrop we wanted. That's very helpful.

I was just amazed at how well this race was run and how they went the extra mile to make all of us feel special, supported, and encouraged. The race medals are very unique showing Abe Lincoln with shades (very cool!) and can be used as a bottle opener just in case you are thirsty.

Also, there is a special pace car that had all 6000 participants names on it. I snapped photos of the pace car but forgot to look for my name. That's impressive!

Don't Worry, Run Halfsy!