The day before the race, Toni and I were going back and forth all day about what to wear for the race. The forecast was swinging from 30 degrees to 40 degrees, and those are two very different race days. When I went to bed, I was wearing a short sleeve, when we walk up and the forecast showed it was warmer than expected, we swapped to tanks. I don't regret that decision. It was 39 at the start, heavy humidity as we were on the brink of a storm, and there was just a tiny breeze.
I picked up Toni and we made our way down to the Falls Market. We had plans to do a quick 5 minute shake out. I usually don't warm up before a half marathon, but my quads had been super tight the previous couple of days and didn't think a warm up would hurt. However, my stomach decided I needed to wait in the line for the portapotties twice, and we didn't have time to run. Oh well, no big deal. I did set a PR for the closest bathroom break to race start time. I ran out of the portapotty with 90 seconds to the gun time.
There were a few of us gals that were hoping to run around 1:55, so I suggested we start together and try to work together for part of the race. Of course that went to hell immediately as the one girl I could find before the race took off like she was shot out of a canyon (she went on to run a 1:48, so it totally makes sense now, hah). My other friend passed me in the first mile or two, but I let her go and kept her in my sights, knowing that she usually likes to start a little faster than I did. I was shocked at how good I felt and how easy the miles were feeling. It was legit the perfect weather for me. If I could've special ordered a race day, that's what it'd be. Maybe minus the humidity.
I had planned to run the first 5 miles around 9-9:15 pace, the next 5 around 8:50 pace, and then everything I had left for the final 5k. The first mile is coming out of the falls, so it's fairly steep and the most challenging mile of the course. So thankful it was the first mile! It leveled off nicely after that and was flat flat flat the rest of the race (except that same nice downhill mile to finish!). I was worried that I'd be unnecessarily tired after the first mile, but mile 2 settled into 9 pace pretty effortlessly.
1. 9:19
2. 8:57
At one point Eminen's Til I Collapse came on in the early miles and I accidentally picked up the pace a bit. My friend Melissa was ahead of me, and I thought it'd be easier if we were running together. I chased her for quite some time and when I caught up to her, she said her side was hurting. She asked how I was feeling and I said, "Great! Today is our day!" I took my first GU leading up to Mile 3.
3. 8:52
4. 8:47
I had hoped to see Kyle during mile 4 but I guess he was running late and missed me. It was during the mile that I glanced down and saw that I was running an 8:39 pace and had to reel myself in. I think when I caught up to Melissa, that gave her extra energy, so she sped up and I went with her without realizing it. Eeps!
I knew we had another mile to go before we started to kick it in, but was very cognizant of the fact that my first five miles were as fast as the second five were supposed to be. Around this time, the gal who beat me in the Chilly Cheeks 5 mile was ahead of me. She ended up with a target on her back for us to keep moving forward. When it was time to speed up, I let Melissa know that I was going to speed up a bit. I started to get a huge boost from seeing the speedy runners on the back portion of the out and back course. It was fun to cheer them on and the mile flew by and before I knew it I was at the turn around. I got a giant high five from Benson, checked my watch, and calculated a finish of 1:57 if I could hang on to the current pace. The thought of a 1:55 if I could pick it up at the end pumped me up!
5. 8:51
6. 8:46
Halfway point: ~58:30
I was super excited to see and cheer on other runners during the back portion of the race, but instead of getting energized from it, I started to feel tired. Uh oh! My heart rate was higher than I typically let it get, especially for the first half of a race, but I wasn't too concerned about it, until I started to feel tired with another hour left to run! I also lost Melissa around the turn around, and suddenly doing the miles solo felt 2x as hard. Uff da.
I got passed a lot during this point, but the important part is that I didn't panic! I kept thinking of Toni's philosophy of having a "mystery mile" during her half and I decided that this could be my mystery mile and I could use it as a recovery mile before rallying and carrying on! I had planned to take my second GU at mile 8, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to take it early, especially as I felt like I was fading. I took it at some point during mile 7. It was my favorite flavor, blueberry pomegranate ROCTANE which is basically tasty rocket fuel. Game on.
7. 9:03
8. 9:17
I started to play games with myself, "ok 5 miles to go is when you GO and start to push". "As soon as you see Kyle, that's when you start your kick!" "5k to go, it's on!" I was fading and fading fast. I desperately just wanted to take a wee little walk break. I saw Kyle around mile 9 and that was a huge boost, although I knew he could tell that I wasn't coming on very strong.
I started calculating finishing time, but of course I was only doing that based on a 9 minute mile pace (which I wasn't quite running). 27 minutes, 23 minutes, I kept telling myself to kick it in until I finally came to terms with this was as fast as I could go. My quads were so tight, and I knew my glutes weren't doing their jobs properly and that's why my quads and IT band were so locked up. I knew if I took even a tiny walk break, it would be game over and I'd walk again and I'd miss my sub 2 hour finish.
9. 9:19
10. 9:07
I turned my music up louder, I paused my music at the water stations to take in the energy of the AMAZING volunteers. I did accidentally bark at a running friend of mine when I desperately needed water. She was wearing such a great costume that I didn't even recognize her, and she was doing a DANCE FOR ME that I had requested months ago. I felt like an a-hole a few minutes later when it registered what was happening. Can I blame the fact that my heart rate was at maximum levels thus causing my brain to short circuit? Oh, did I mention that? The last 5k my heart rate was so high, I can't believe I didn't keel over on the spot! I averaged in the 180s for the last 2.5 miles. I *might* hit 180 during a hard mile repeat session at the tail end of one of the very last repeats. To run at that effort level for 20+ minutes?!? No wonder I was counting down the minutes to be done!
11. 9:22
12. 9:19
I kept focusing on just getting to the last mile of the race, because I knew it'd be a little easier because it was downhill, but I was so tired that I don't even think it felt easier. But I did pick up the pace a bit. I re-found Eminen's Til I Collapse and listened to that on repeat the final mile. I thought, with what little brain juice I had remaining in my cranium that "huh, wouldn't it be fitting if I *did* collapse while listening to this song and running??"
I saw the finishing clock and couldn't judge how far away from it I was, I looked at my watch and I could hardly do the math to calculate if I was going to make it in under 2 hours. I kicked it in with probably my poorest finishing sprint in forever.
13. 9:03
.1 :39 (8:16 avg. pace, 7:29 max pace)
Forgetting that I didn't start right with the gun, I was pleasantly surprised to look down at my watch to see 1:58:50. Official time has me at 1:58:48, for an average pace of 9:05 (the exact pace that I ran 10 miles in for the TC10 last fall....I also ran a faster 10 mile split at the start than that 10 mile race.... #progress!)
As soon as I crossed the finish line, BRF Toni came running up to me with a giant congratulations and wanting to know how far under 2 I was. And then she surprised me (I wasn't at all surprised, btw) with the news that she PR'd AGAIN. By 4 FREAKIN' MINUTES. She's a beast. I want to be as fast as her when I grow up!!
It was such an awesome day, despite being so incredibly hard. I'm so proud of not giving up on myself when it got really effing hard. I had such a tough mental battle those last four miles, and to put up with the negative chatter and just keep putting one foot in front of the other is such a mental win for me.
My body is completely wrecked. Every cell is sore. I honestly feel like I ran a marathon instead of a half marathon. I haven't strength trained since the Monday before Boston, and it showed. The reason my quads were so tight leading up to the race is because my glutes never properly activated on my easy shake out runs, and my quads were extra tired because of that. I did my band work the morning of the race, but without lifting, it doesn't seem to be enough. Noted for next time in GIANT BOLD ALL CAPS LETTERS!
The good news about that revelation is: I ran a sub 2 without using much of the largest muscle in my lower body, so you better believe I'm shooting for faster this spring still!
Fun statistics about this race performance:
- This is my 8th fastest race out of 34.
- This is my fastest half in six years.
- First time breaking 2 hours in those six years.
- I ran a faster 10 mile split than I did for the 10 mile in October.
After the race, I had lunch with Kyle and then met up with some of the girls to do the 605 Downtown Crawl. We had to go to 10 different businesses downtown, and then earned a really sweet 2nd medal!
Great job 605! I can't wait until next year!
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