Back from my 13.1 mile "race". Did it at a local rail trail (Paint Creek), which worked out really well--plenty of parking, bathrooms, water, mostly shaded. Only negative is that it's not a paved trail (but packed dirt/crushed whatever), and it has been so dry around here that there were solid bike tire ruts, but fortunately, they didn't cause me any footing issues. Not much crowd support, just this guy....(or actually, gal, since she apparently had a clutch of eggs)
I wanted to run it "uptempo", and I did. I left my watch running and tried not to look at the mile splits. I stopped 3x for gel/water for 1 minute each. I also stopped one further time for 30 sec and had a 20sec stop for a busy road on the way back. I had a few moments of "you can stop, you know. It's not a real race and you don't have to do this", but I kept going and didn't give in. The nice thing about doing your own "race" is you get to stop exactly at the distance. So 13.1 miles exactly in a final time of 2:03:16 (Net run time of 1:59:26 ish). Apparently, I've still got some pep in my step, even without what I would call "serious" training, so I am pretty chuffed (I love this word).
Post-run treat of Iced Latte, Lemon Pound cake from a nearby coffee shop, along with a traditional post-race PB and banana on toasted homemade bread.
So I have closure on my half buildup plan, and now a week off and straight into NYC marathon training. I have my data point for fitness and can now determine what I want to do with the NYC race.