After nearly throwing in the towel with post-holiday depression, I came back from the time off strong to complete the 3M half marathon yesterday. It was an early cold start and I didn't find my friends until I got to the starting line. Just a lot of chilly runners pacing around in the dark. I wore my hat and gloves and a thermal shirt, which I had taken off before we left the arboretum. I started further up in the pack than I normally do, and was off to the races with a speedy first few miles. This was NOT my plan. My plan was to hang back and run 12 min miles and save my legs for the end of the race. Totally not happening. On the long downhills on Mesa and Spicewood, I would glance at my watch and see my pace steadily below 11 min miles. It was the same feeling when you are up at the slot machines..."I've got this much ... and it can do all these things with it." Consistently I was hitting my pace or exceeding it. Instead of pacing myself, I just used the watch and did the math. After the halfway point I could start calculating..."if I can keep this pace, even if I run 14 min miles for the last 3 I will beat my estimated time." That was entertaining, a little further down the road and slightly more tired and delusional my inner voice reverted to an oft quoted line in our household "It's still good!" It's in the Simpson's episode when Lisa sends Homer's BBQ flying through the air. He picks it up off the ground "It's still good. Just a little slimy" As I was running every time my pace would start to slip (like on that HATEFUL hill by Epoch and the Parlour) I would tell myself, "It's still good, just a little faster."
As I came to the 10 mile marker I came to a moment of reckoning. I was losing speed and becoming fatigued, but I still had 2:30 within my sights. When I came off my holiday training layoff and registered for the race, I was thinking I could be happy with 3 hrs. After a successful 8 miler and 10 miler I looked at my pace predictor which had listed 2:32, and at some point during the week I had boastfully told a running friend I was gonna beat 2:30. At mile 10, I was pretty certain that I was. Even if I ran 12 min miles (a pace I had not slipped to the entire race) then I would indeed. As the street numbers grew lower (51st, 38th, 26th, campus) I realized I could see the finish, it was NOT up another hill. I carefully tried not to look like a stampeding rhinocerous (which is always how I look when I try to pick it up for the finish) but stayed the course I had been on all day. And I did. 2:28 Ta-da! I'm sure the familiar downhill course (made of of parts of my usual tempo run) helped me too. Overall, my first half marathon experience was a positive one. I think it's a good strategy for me to line up with the 10 min milers at the start, I'd rather be pacing off faster folks in front of me than stuck behind the run/walk ladies at the back of the pack. Really my only regret was weather related, and purely beyond my control. I ditched my long sleeve shirt early, and I really could have worn it the whole time. The sun shined briefly on the Burnet rd. stretch, but retreated on North Loop and downright disappeared on Duval. It was cold and gray at the finish and I was getting a chill very fast.
I feel pretty good, minus a few random aches and pains, and have already started scheming on my next race, the Camp Eagle trail runs at the end of Feb. I'm thinking about a trail running training group and racing the Rogue trail series later in the spring, but for now I'm going to think about getting down the stairs at my office building and to yoga yoga in time for some gong therapy. Thanks to all my running friends and their own individual successes on the course yesterday. Namaste.
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