Third Time's A Charm, Right? (For A Half-Marathon)

This Sunday I'll be spending the middle of my 3-day Labor Day weekend running the Covered Bridges Half-Marathon in nearby Swanzey, NH. This will be my third run of the race and this year I have a very simple objective:

Make it through mile 12 and still have energy!

Both of the last two years I've done pretty well up until mile 12. In fact, last year I was running with a friend and we had a very constant 10-minute/mile pace all the way up through mile 10 and maybe even into mile 11.

And then we got to the mile 12 aid station and I walked through it to have a drink... and kept on walking. :-(

I did get enough energy back to run the final bit... but it was a hard slog and I looked like I was ready to collapse.

A year later I've been running a good bit these days, although not as long as a half-marathon, and in talking to multiple people it seems my issue is most likely all about a lack of fuel inside my body. A friend who runs full marathons (and longer distances!) said that our livers have about 2 hours worth of fuel in them to power our body... and, gee, it's right about the 2 hour mark that I'm fading!

I did eat a bit during the race last time, but not that much. So this time I'm going to make that a regular part of the running... plus I'm doing some pre-race fueling, too.

We'll see how it goes on Sunday... as we often say, "third time is a charm!" (Of course, we also say "three strikes and you're out!")

P.S. There's still time to register to run if you want to join in - and they do same day registration as well. This year they are also offering a 2-person relay race option, too.