Race Report 4-12-08

OK, OK, I'm a week late. It's been a long week.

Race day went well. The kids ran in the Mascot Chase (.3 mile, grouped by age) and both got medals. They had fun, and they even beat some of the mascots across the finish line.

I lined up with the 11 minute milers. I thought I might be able to line up with the 10 minute group, but figured it would be better to catch them later than wind up running out of steam and getting passed by everyone. They played the national anthem (and some people sang)...and I remember thinking "Wow, we're a real sporting event!"

Then we heard the starting gun and John Bingham saying "They're off"...and nothing moved. After a few seconds we trudged forward, and then stopped. It was almost surreal. Finally after about a minute we started walking steadily, and over two minutes after the first runners started, we finally crossed the starting mat. And I remembered to start my watch. =)

Miles 1-5 flew by, especially the first one, where I found myself passing one guy just as he was saying to the person next to him "yeah, I'm going to try to keep to a 9 or 10 minute pace"...and thought WHOA, I need to slow down. I pulled up, and rejoined most of the people I'd lined up with originally. =)

At about mile 6 (I think) I began to realize that a multigrain bagel may not have been the best choice for a pre-race breakfast.Fortunately this race had port-a-potties, so at mile 7 (I think) I stopped in the port-a-potty to take care of business and clean up. (I HATE runners' diarrhea....)

Once I wasn't distracted by that situation, I discovered I'd hit the meat of my race, the part that all the training was for. Miles 8-10 were the toughest of the whole race...the ones where the only reason I was running was because the people around me were and so it seemed like the thing to do, but if I'd been alone I'm sure I would have stopped, or at least walked for a while.

Then I reached mile 10, and realized that although I was tired it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and there were only 3 miles to go. All around me I saw people taking more and more frequent walking breaks, and yet I still felt able to run continuously. All the training on hills paid off as we came back into the heart of downtown Columbus, and while lots of people had to slow down or stop going uphill (especially since we were running into the wind at that point) I could just lower my head and keep going.

As we neared the finish line, other racers who had already finished and were walking back to parking garages were calling out "You're almost there" and we started to be able to hear the noise from the grandstand. When I passed the 13 mile marker and turned for home I dug down and found just a little bit of a finishing kick...saw Alex and raised my arms so he could get a picture of me...and then headed for the line as I could see the clock hit 2:30.

Could still walk as I hit the finishing corrals with Gatorade, bagels, fruit and Donato's Pizza (!). Wasn't in the mood for food, but drank a Gatorade because I knew I needed it and took a bagel and a banana for later.

Clock time: 2:31:48
Chip time: 2:29:21 (yes!!! under 2 1/2 hours!!!)
Place: nowhere near last (there were still people on the course as WE were walking back to the parking garage!)

Official results at www.columbusdistanceclassic.com
Race photos at www.runphotos.com (I'm bib number 3162)

It was FUN (even with the port-a-potty stop). Not easy, but easier than I expected it to be. I want to do it again. =)

My next goal: start training Tuesday 4/22 for the Columbus Marathon on 10/19/08. Found another trusty Hal Higdon training program...I've been very satisfied with my race preparation so far with his programs, and they're simple enough that even I can figure them out. They're also forgiving if I miss a day or two.

Goal time: 5 hours would be nice, under 5 would be phenomenal. I figure my good feelings from the half mean that there's enough endurance in the tank to push a little bit harder speed-wise. I figure I've been training at or near race pace (11-12 minute pace) so if I train just a little bit faster, over the course of the next 6 months I should be able to build up enough strength and get used to the faster pace enough to improve it in a race.

Especially since I stuck to my training program (except for taking a week off for a cold) and blew my race goal time out of the water (even with the port-a-potty). I was figuring on about 2:40, but 2:30 would have been fine.

I'll let you read it one more time...2:29:21...WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!