Okay, I'll post my self indulgent story.

I had run a lot of 5ks, a few 10ks, and one ten miler, but I was definitely still learning to run and pace the longer races. It is a definite skill. Anyway, I had a 20k (not quite a half) and was hoping to run at 8:00 pace or a little faster. It was an awful day, 80*+, 70-80% humidity all at 8am. I did not have enough sense to back off of my planned pace,. I was walking by 6 miles in and finished in 2:06, which was not even a good traiing pace for me.

Three weeks later I ran my fist half. Much nicer day. Started out much slower, went through three miles in 24:48 and slowly started running faster from there. I may never have had as much fun in a race as I did passing people between miles 10 and the finish. I was absolutely flying past them (or so it felt). Finished in 1:43:21. May have left a minute or two out on the course but ran much smarter and better.

So, it is okay to race, even your first time at a new distance, but do it a bit conservatively.

Southern Man

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We're on a road to nowhere. Come on along.

I had started running in earnest in January, 2005, and had maybe a half-dozen 5k's (and one 10k, I believe) under my belt by that November. I was training for a marathon in January (charity runner for a terminally-ill colleague), several people had suggested I run a half just to get some mental preparation going for the full, and there was a local half at just the right time - so everything fell in place for me as far as timing and convenience.

The race I chose was a very pleasant route that starts out on public streets, spends some time on some greenway trails, and reaches some nice comfortable forest roads in the local state park. In fact, the only negative to the course is that it's an "out-and-back", and the first three miles are distinctly down-hill <g>.

I've never been good at judging my pacing, so I went out aiming to keep what I thought was a reasonable heart rate (a rate I now use as my target for my tempo runs). It felt good, but I needed to stop at the turn-around. I'd been having some blister problems that fall and I could feel a hot-spot developing, so I took a couple of minutes to add a preventive band aid (it worked). It did take me about a quarter mile to get back into rhythm again, but I actually did the second half of the race faster than the first - including climbing those hills I'd started out going down on over two hours before. Finished in 2:23:xx (took probably 2-3 minutes for the band-aids), then went home and worked on my laundry-room remodeling (my wife thought it would help keep me from getting stiff). That lasted for a couple more hours, till I told her I was officially tired and was going to take a nap.

My first (and so far only) half marathon was back in August 2002. I had been running 16 months, and had run seven 5K's, two 5-mile races, and one 10-miler. My longest training run before the race was 10 miles. I think my first half marathon went very much like Southern Man's: I took it easy during the first six miles, and then pushed the last 7.1 miles. I had a blast passing people at the end. To give you an idea of my pacing, I covered the first six miles in the same time it took me to run the last 7.1 miles.

I am doing my second half marathon October 7.

Good luck.

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I just ran my first 1/2m 5 days ago. I forgot my watch at home and went out too fast, and had an experience similar to red73. I was planning on 9:00 splits, but got caught up in the race adrenaline and ran the first in 7:30. Needless to say, I was dragging by mile 6, and was walking periodically by mile 9. I still finished at 1:52:57, which is 8:37 pace.<br> I hope my next experience is like MaineRunner2001 in that I will go out slower and enjoy it instead of suffering thru the experience like I did. I hope to burn off the excess energy at the end of the race by starting slower. Lesson learned!

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I had only run a 5Ks and 10Ks before my first half. I had run a couple of 13 milers so I knew I could go the distance. The half was held on a beautiful course on paved country roads with rolling hills. Of course I took off too fast and died in the last three miles. I was sore for a week afterwards. Ouch. Plus, I remember distinctly that I had to pee for nearly the entire race!! It was fun, however, and the following year I came back. The next half-marathon was awesome. Pre-race food was a handful of candy corn and a diet coke. (the race was in October). I started conservatively, then on the 2nd part, at the race turnaround I sped up and passed a ton of people. I remember feeling very focused and calm throughout. Came in strong with AG hardware hee hee.

Whatever your experience, there is nothing like your first half-marathon(s).

My first was the NYC Half in August of 2006. I had a 10K and a 10 miler under my belt. I had walk-run 13 miles once, but hadn't been training too much otherwise. Amazingly, the race went great. I had planned to walk a minute of every 10, but felt so good I didn't want to stop. It was really cool when the run passed through Times Square and other parts of the city, and I think having a lot to look at helped me keep going. It rained for the last 4-5 miles, which wasn't too fun. I ended up finishing in about 1:45.

Best of luck when you run yours.

I had been a 5/10K runner for quite some time before running my first half. My long runs were previously 12 miles, so it was easy to bump those up to 13, so that I'd run the distance several times before racing. I didn't do any speed training, but I did a lot of long tempo runs and ran a 1:34. I ran it like a tempo run with even splits. Unfortunately, I never sharpened up, so I don't know what I could have run with a little more speed work.