Rochester Half-Marathon

This morning I ran the Rochester half with my boyfriend, Andy. I picked him up at 6:15 and we drove over to Frontier Field. We picked up our packets last night so all we had to do was get our timing chips. The race started at 7:45. I debated whether to run in my sports bra or a sleeveless shirt (I'm sure my indecisiveness annoyed Andy) but I ended up just wearing the tech shirt because my race # belt annoys me when it's against my skin. I pinned 2 GUs to my shorts (1 to use, 1 in case of an emergency). I thought I lined up towards the front but I was farther back than I thought, but I think it only took about 15 seconds for me to pass the start line and start my Garmin. I was only slowed down for the first couple minutes and then I was able to weave through enough of the slower runners to find a space to get settled into my pace. I was aiming to run according to Jack Daniels' book, however I forgot to check what my pace should be this morning, and I thought I remembered it being 7:54, so I went with that. (I actually just checked and he recommends a finish time of 1:42:17 which is actually a 7:48 pace). Anyways, I ran the first 5 miles or so slightly above pace (7:30ish) - it's hard to slow down when I'm feeling good and a lot of the first chunk was downhill (down East Ave.). Between miles 7 and 8 (I think), which is where you enter the canal path, I felt kind of crappy and I was worried that I was going to pay for going out too fast earlier, but then I just kind of sucked it up and got over it. I felt really strong for the 2nd half - like I was pushing pretty hard but not dying, I was maintaining my pace, and I felt tired at the end, but not like I was going to collapse. I think I put forth a good effort and I'm very happy with the result! My unofficial time (according to my Garmin) was 1:41:40 with an average pace of 7:43.. so a little bit below JDs predicted time. The good thing is that I dropped 7 minutes off my previous (and only) half marathon time. The bad thing is that this is gearing me up even more for wanting a BQ at Philly. They say double your half and add 10.. and that puts me in under 3:40 which is my BQ time. I won't speak for Andy (who ran a 1:30 today and I am very proud of him!!!) but I REALLY want to BQ, and I KNOW that I shouldn't want to because Philly is my first marathon and anything can happen. But this just makes me want it even more :(