Wow!

What do you do when you wake up at 4:30 and can’t go back to sleep?  Update your blog.  Note to self, if you want to sleep late, don’t fall asleep at 9 pm!

Yesterday was my first race of 2012.  Based on the title of this entry, you can safely assume that I had a good race.  The short version is that I took 6th in my age group, recorded a 1:38 (for a half marathon) beating my previous best by 4 minutes.  I was hoping to break 1:42, and thought there was an outside chance of breaking 1:40.  My finish time was even on the radar, at least not mine.

The rest of this might be a bit boring, but I do want to record my thoughts.

The Plan
Wanting to break 1:42, I knew I would need to average about 7:45 pace.  Honestly I didn’t think I could do that, and really figured that when I had done it before it had been a fluke.  That said I needed a plan.  I figured I would start with the pace group running 8:00 (with a pace group) for about 4 miles, drop to 7:45 for 4 miles, and then to 7:30 until the end.  This would have gotten me my goal time and I would have been very happy.

Talking to coach the day before the race, she didn’t like this plan.  She thought it was too conservative, that I was fully capable of going under 1:40.  She wanted me to start out on my own, but if I was going to start with the pace group I shouldn’t stay any longer than 1-2 miles.  Staying any longer would force me to run much faster to make up for lost time.  “Listen to your body” she said.  “Try not to focus on your Garmin”, and we even considered going without it.  By now I should know better than to not believe her.  I think she knows my body better than I do!  So my plan changed slightly to still start with the pace group, but to listen to my body.

Race morning
We started off late leaving the house.  Then while pumping gas I decided it was colder than I’d thought and wanted to go back home to get an undershirt.  We got to our rendezvous point with Team RWB and took a group photo.  By the time I found my pace leader it was time to start lining up for the start.  I didn’t get a chance to warm up!  In all the excitement I also forgot to take my pre-start gel.  Really not the start I’d hoped for!

There were around 3000 people doing the half marathon.  With how the corrals were set up I found myself fairly close to the starting line.  The full marathon people got a 5 minute head start.  I’m not sure why they did that, as it didn’t help us any.

The Race
There wasn’t a starting gun (or even a starting line), just a guy on a megaphone saying GO, and we were off. I’d expected us to start off with slower times fighting through the crowds of people.  Since we were close to the front we quickly found space to run, and at a quicker pace than I’d expected.  At about 1/2 mile I felt the pace leader drop back to the 8:00 pace.  I did a quick body check and decided I was fine with the pace I was running and left the group.

I really tried to not look at my Garmin too much.  When I thought I might be pushing the tempo a bit too much I would check.  Several times I found my pace around 7:10 and would back off.  I have to wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t of known.  Could I have kept that pace up and not blown up?

There wasn’t much going on in the race.  I’d picked some good up temp music to keep me motivated.  There were lots of spectators lining the course cheering us on.  And the course was very flat.  It did seem to me that there were a bunch of false flats, and I kept waiting for the other side, but it never materialized.

The real problem was the wind, which was brutal.  I told myself early on that this was good training for Galveston, which will likely be windy, but that didn’t make it any easier.  I tried to find big people to draft off of as much as possible.  Unfortunately most of those people are further back in the pack, and often times it was just me with no one around.

I’m glad I took the extra shirt as it was cold at the start.  I did warm up within a couple of miles, but never got hot, nor wished I didn’t have the shirt.  While I wished I’d also grabbed my gloves and arm warmers before the start, I was fine without them during.

I tried to calculate my pace several times during the race.  Most of the time I missed the mile markers.  When I didn’t miss them, my calculations were all over the place.  I kept thinking my math had to be wrong, and it probably was, I was working pretty hard and couldn’t focus on the math.

At some point I realized I’d forgotten my pre-race gel.  I’m not sure why I didn’t take one immediately as I had plenty.  I did some quick math, adjusting my nutrition schedule, and stuck to it.  Fortunately it was never a problem.

At about the halfway point I thought I was averaging about 7:40 pace, again, I’m not sure about the math.  I figured I would just hold this until mile 10, and then pick it up until the end.  The next few miles went by very slowly.  I started thinking that mile 10 was too soon, and it became mile 11, then mile 12.

Mile 12 was key for me.  Team RWB had the water station there and I knew my shirt would get me some good support there, hopefully enough for a final kick to the end.  Unfortunately mile 12 was manned by a bunch of young kids and there wasn’t a RWB shirt in sight.  I think I got one shout out at the very end, nothing like what I’d hoped for.

That last mile was SO long.  I had no kick left in me.  I was telling myself to just hold on.  More math told me that if I could just hold an 8:00 pace I would break 1:40.  It felt like I was running in slow motion.  I didn’t feel any of the usual emotion coming in towards the finish line, just pain and realization that I just couldn’t pick it up any more.

I crossed the finish line, and apologies to the runners behind me leaned over with my hands on my knees trying to recover.  I mumbled something to the volunteer who asked if I was ok, got my medal and headed out of the finish area. 

In closing
My watch read 1:38 and change!  I honestly didn’t believe coach when she told me I could do that.  I started out faster than ever before, and while there were times when I worried that I’d started out too fast, I was able to hold on through the end.

I have to say this was a great race for me to start the season.  Yes the time was great, but it is much more than that.  I pushed myself harder than I thought I could, and when things got tough I just kept going.  There were times, especially into the wind, that I walking entered my mind.  Instead I reminded myself that if I want to be fast it is going to be hard.

Yesterday is now over and it is time to move on.  Tomorrow starts my training for the Galveston HIM, and if you thought my goals for this race were crazy, stay tuned!