Lost Dutchman Half Marathon 2004

I hadn't planned on racing at all this weekend, but the Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Marathon was such a bust for me that I wanted to do something to feel like I could still run. I want to run the Pacific Shoreline Marathon on February 1st, the last possibility for a Boston qualifier, but I wasn't sure I could be recovered enough. So I decided to test myself with the Lost Dutchman Half. I decided that if I could do better than the first half of R'N'R AZ then I would be okay to run Pacific shoreline. If I crashed and burned in this half, I would just forget any more marathons this season.
This course was rolling hills, some of them steep, with a little more pavement than dirt road, but some of both. Not fast and flat.
I felt great through the whole run. I hit the eight mile mark at almost exactly one hour, then started to fall off the 7:30 pace, but still finished in 1:41:54. I'm really happy with that time for a half on a tough course the week after a marathon.
I'm going ahead with the Pacific Shoreline Marathon at Huntington Beach in two weeks. Let the chips fall where they may, I'll give it a shot.