This weekend, I ran my 15th half marathon: the Water to Wine Half Marathon between Sonoma Lake and Healdsburg, CA.

Since finishing the Pleasanton Half Marathon in 1:40:14 (7:41/mile), I have been following a new training program that got me running 580 miles in 14 weeks so I had high hopes of getting back down to my early 2010 times in the sub 1:35 zone.

The course is point to point with a net elevation loss though it is mostly rolling hills all the way. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the mid-50s. The race started 5 minute late at 7:05AM to give the lone wheelchair participant some welcome head start. Based on my expected finish time and last year’s results, I decided to position myself toward the front of the pack of 1200 or so runners so I crossed the start line 3 seconds only after the gun.

After a fast first half mile, I managed to settle at the 7:15/mile pace necessary for a 1:35 finish time and successfully maintained it for the first 6 miles.

Since I was feeling good, I accelerated a bit to 7:10/mile average for the next 5 miles, then down to 6:55 for mile 12, and again down to 6:30 for the last mile to finish 52nd in 1:33:53 (7:10/mile average).

Of course, I am now hoping to run another sub 1:30 like I ran in 2010 at the San Jose Half Marathon. My next race is actually the 2013 version of that event so we will see where I stand then.