LR Half Marathon 2011: Race Report

Alternate Title:  Masochism in the Cold

OK, so it wasn't that bad.  It was above freezing, right?  (37 degrees at start time...).  The short:  around 2:06, or a 9:40 pace.  The long:  see below.  Really, this is so I'll remember it more than anything else. 

J and I layered up and hit the course this morning about 7:45; the race started at 8:00.  That's one of the best things about races in cities you know - the logistics are incredibly easy.  Running one in your town is also a plus, because the bed you are dragging your ass out of at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning is your own.

Over the last few days, I've been trying to figure out how to run this one.  I'm certainly in no danger of being overtrained, but I'm not in bad shape.  I've done some decent running lately, and my speed has gotten better.  Plus, a good friend PR'd a half yesterday (PR = personal record) in under 2 hours.  Now, that is literally a dream time for me, but what was wrong with giving this one a full out effort?

I've run two previous half marathons: the first one I just sort of enjoyed the experience (Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll, 2:11:10); the second one (LR last year, 2:29:29, 11:25 pace) I was injured and just happy to be running.  This year I'm not injured (THANK GOD), and I've got some experience with half marathons, so why not run this one with a solid effort and leave everything on the course? 

The first goal is always just to finish - this is never a guarantee, 13 miles is always a long way to run.  I set my "wouldn't it be nice if" goal at about a 10:00 mile pace, which would get me about a 2:10:00 finish time.  My dream goal was to get under 2 hours.  Not bloody likely today, but it was something to shoot for.

I had one very helpful element with the run today:  at the starting line, J (whose pace for a leisurely jog is my hard effort pace) decided to run with me instead of running his normal pace.  Usually I'm far too slow for him, but maybe my rumblings about trying to run "faster" convinced him to run with me for a while to see if he could handle the slower pace.  So he ran with me for nearly the entire race.  I'm fairly certain I would never have gone out as fast as we did initially, which led to me keeping up a fast pace the entire race. 

For the first few miles, I kept up a decent string of sub 10:00 miles, despite all the weaving we had to do to get around the slower runners / walkers.  I began to think I could maybe meet my 2:10 goal, and perhaps even do better...  There was a damn good chance that I'd end up running the first half of the race way too fast and blow up in the second half, but I'd never know if I didn't try, so I kept the pace up. 

Mile 1: 10:05
Mile 2:  9:43
Mile 3:  9:40
Mile 4:  9:34
Mile 5:  9:48
Mile 6:  9:38

Somewhere around mile 6 I realized that I was definitely running sub 10 miles, and was still holding a decent pace without dying.  This is always a good thing - dying on the course is generally not recommended.  I walked through most of the drink stations, going with Gatorade when I could. 

Miles 7-10 are a bit of a blur.  I remember stopping for water, and I remember fumbling with my ipod to keep queuing up loud obnoxious songs to keep me moving.  Every time I looked at my Garmin and it told me I was nearing a 10:00 pace, I sped up.  I didn't have to do that very much, though; it was far more often that I saw a 9:XX pace rather than a 10:XX pace. 

Mile 7:  9:31
Mile 8:  9:34
Mile 9:  9:18
Mile 10:  9:25

Somewhere in the middle of these miles, we made the big run uphill towards the state capitol.  I hit a loud, obnoxious song, zoned out, kicked into another gear, and J started asking me if I was ok - I think he was concerned about having to carry me once my legs shut down.  Because THAT was definitely going to happen at some point, it was just a matter of whether I'd be able to cross the finish line before the shut down occurred.

Miles 11-13 are where I'd have to say I quit having fun.  Plain and simple, those miles hurt.  And they should have - they were the fasted damn miles of the run.  J was fantastic with lots of encouragement, but towards the end I really wanted to kill him.  No offense, J, but you were KILLING me at the end with that pace. 

Mile 11:  9:16
Mile 12:  9:17
Mile 13:  9:09
Last .3 tenths:  9:05 pace

So, the final result?  My chip time was about 2:06, or a 9:40 average pace.  That's not quite a 5 minute PR, but it's close, and a hell of a lot better than I expected from today.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that I was able to hold that pace over 13 miles, and even sped up at the end.  Don't get me wrong - I AM DONE, and I left everything out there on the course today.  But that gives me hope for my "dream goal" of a sub 2 hour half.  The Hogeye Half in Fayetteville is in a month, and I'm seriously considering giving that one a try.  I don't really think I'll be able to shave 6 minutes off in a month (that's nearly 30 seconds a mile), but it might be a good way to keep my ass in training when I might otherwise get lazy. 

Funny what a little success will do for you, right?