Today was my final training day for this training cycle. Tomorrow is Day 1 of taper. To celebrate this day I planned to run 18-20 miles with a half marathon race in the middle, my goal for which was to run those 13.1 miles at MP. Well, a couple of things conspired against me and I only ended up with 13.1 (more like 13.22) miles for the day. The first strike happened before the race (rain) and the second event occurred after the race. This would end any thoughts of my post-race miles.

I woke up at 5:00 am and planned to head out to the starting line early in order to run 5 miles before the race. Unfortunately, it was cold and raining and I just could not bear to head out in that weather in the dark. I was enjoying my hot coffee and peanut butter toast with honey way too much. And so I said screw those pre-race miles, I’ll run them after the race.

I made my way over to the start, waited with everyone else inside the high school gym, met up with some online friends, waited and waited and waited for my Garmin to catch a satellite (damn rain clouds!) and then bumped into one of my running partners. We made our way to the start, found our other running partner and soon the race was off. The rain had let up and became a light sprinkle which fizzled out somewhere in my fourth mile. Despite the rocky start to the day, today’s weather was probably the most perfect race conditions you could possibly ask for. Overcast, cool and mid-40°.

No race nerves for me today, I was completely relaxed and commented to Maureen (RP) somewhere in the first few miles that it was kind of nice to run the race as a training run because there was absolutely no pressure to perform. I was so relaxed, in fact, that the only times I even bothered with my watch was when I heard a beep and I’d glance down to see the split. Even then, I really didn’t care what the numbers read, I based my running on breathing and effort and simply tried to keep up a good, moderate rhythm. This is a new approach for me and I have to say that I really like this kind of effort better than eyeballing a watch. It is so much more relaxing.

Everything was feeling super easy. Super duper easy. I made a comment to my RP that I was clicking these miles off so easily, just imagine if  I was racing this. Egh, maybe I can find a half marathon this Fall that I can race. I’d like to test out a harder effort. In any case, all of my miles were sub-8 minutes. I was feeling good and kept holding back because I didn’t want to race this.

It’s quite nice and convenient to train regularly on a race course because at all times I knew exactly where I was and where I had to go. There were no surprises. I could get ready for the hills well in advance. I like to pull back ever so slightly leading into the hills and then maintain the pace going up them. I passed many people on every hill we encountered because they tried to plow ahead before the hills or were surprised by them.

I last ran this race two years ago and that was my very first half marathon. As I ran the course today I remembered how I felt back then at certain points along the course and how good I felt today. Around mile 9 I began thinking that perhaps I should run the last two miles harder, just because. The miles in the Parkway were my slowest ones and once we left and put the last of the hills behind us I wanted to push things a bit more. Somewhere around mile 12 I decided it was time to throw it down. I picked up the pace and as well as a couple of younger girls. One was struggling and I kept trying to talk to her and pace her to the finish. They weren’t wearing a GPS watch so I let them know we were on a good pace and to try to maintain it to the stadium instead of speeding up like they were doing. As you leave the street and enter the stadium there is a killer short hill to climb to get into the stadium. It can really mess you up. We made it to that point and I told the girl who was struggling to pump her arms hard and use short steps. I lost her on the hill.

So you enter the stadium and then have to run a ¾ length of the track to get to the Finish Line. I was going around the last curve and am passing this guy, he looks over at me and says, “You have got to be kidding me,” and then tries to pick it up. I say to him “Come on!” and he says back “Do you want to race?” I say, “Let’s go!” and we sprint about 300 meters to the finish. I was floating on air. Yes, I beat him, my feet barely touched the ground. After we crossed the finish line we gave each other a high five and he congratulated me on that final kick. What I didn’t tell him was that I had way more in me because I didn’t leave much out  on the course.

Okay, so here’s the deal. I had taken my car key off the chain and left the automatic door opener (you know, with the buttons) and my phone inside the car. This was actually my husband’s set of keys because I wasn’t sure where I had placed my set of keys. (I don’t typically drive this car.) Now my key opens the car doors and I know this because I don’t have that automatic door opener on my set. I just assumed his key did the same thing. Nope! I was locked out of my car, friends gone and no phone. The cops couldn’t open the door with all of their tools of the trade. A very kind woman who works security for the Fairgrounds was ending her shift and going my way and offered me a ride home. I took it. I have since found my set of keys and am on my way to pick up the car. This is why I didn’t run any post-race miles. I suppose I could still head out but I’ve decided that since I ran 21 last weekend and plan to run about 17-18 next weekend, I’m probably good to go.

Alright, I’ve kept you in suspense long enough. Yes, I got a new PR today, although I have to preface this by saying I did not run hard today so I cannot wait to see what I can do next time when I am focused only on a half marathon (with no marathon looming 3 weeks into the future.) My final (and official) time was 1:42:58. I will have to retrieve my Garmin out of the trunk of the car and download the splits, after which I will addend this post.

Splits:
1 - 7:42
2 - 7:49
3 - 7:46
4 - 7:47
5 – 7:45
6 - 7:41
7 - 7:58 (miles 7-10 were in the Parkway – lots of hills!)
8 - 7:55
9 - 7:57
10 - 7:58
11 - 7:50
12 – 7:44
13 – 7:32
.21 – 1:26 (6:57)

Official time: 1:42:58 (7:52 pace)
Overall: 419/3034 (13.8%)
Gender: 87/1636 (5.3%)
Age group: 11/277 (4%)