Happy With Ocala Half-Marathon Experience

This morning I ran the Ocala Half-Marathon, marking the second time in three years I've gone down there (in 2011 I entered their marathon).  This time I wanted simply to enjoy running the course to completion, something impossible the last time when a leg injury forced me to walk much of the distance.  And it was a resounding success as I finished the 13.1-mile course in 1 hour 55 minutes 20 seconds, pretty much tying my personal record for this distance.  The fact that the course was very hilly made this time surprising to me, along with fact that I hadn't run this far at one time since I ran the DeLeon Springs Half-Marathon on New Years Day 2012. Here are the results from the event's website.

The starting temperature at the 7:15 AM starting time was in the mid-fifties and rose to around 70 by the race's completion.  The humidity was high throughout (a negative), but the sky was mostly overcast (a definite positive, eliminating sunrise glare).  I had loaded up by eating a whole pizza the night before and had plenty of energy to sustain me throughout.

The folks who organized this event, along with the volunteers and other runners, were all friendly and easy to talk with.  I have no complaints on any front (well, maybe one about one of the runners) and plan to enter the Ocala Half-Marathon next year...as long as my health holds up, that is.

I credit much of my running success in this race to the fact that, although I rarely did long training runs, I still amassed a lot of mileage by running twice on many days.  I also lost some weight in the process, and that no doubt helped me to "drag" my body though 13.1 miles...