After my first half marathon (the Coronado Strip Half) and my disappointing time of 2:10 and my hip acting up on the first mile, I was trained and hungry to run another and beat the 2 hour mark. When I heard that Ryan's cousin Nathan and his cousin were running the SD Holiday Half right after Christmas, I signed up right away and got myself to my masseuse and chiropractor to get my hip issues worked out before the next race.
During my training for the first race I also realized that I didn't need to put in as many training days as my training schedule suggested (5) and that for the time spent, it was actually more beneficial to trade in a run or two for some cross-training and strength exercises. I also seemed to do best sticking to the schedule for the long run, but then doing a mid length run (about 6 miles) and a shorter one (about 3 miles) concentrating on speed. I didn't feel the extra miles were necessary, as when I did fewer miles I was still able to increase my miles without issue, while I did feel the extra wear and tear on my body when keeping up with the full schedule. So this time around modified my workouts, and just maintained my long runs, concentrating on making sure my injuries were nursed and healed before race day.
I was pretty terrified going into it since doing the calculations to finish in under 2 hours meant that I had to maintain less than a 9 min mile on average, which was far faster than I had run in any of my training. My best pace was about 8:30 but I never maintained that pace for more than a mile or two, and my slower miles were about 10:30. Yet I still had hope, as I was fully trained, fully healed, full of adrenaline and headed into a stellar course (mostly downhill, overall loss of elevation, and cool temps during the race).
And timing going pee sucked. Of course you want to wait until last min before the race, but if you do that then you have to battle the throngs of people waiting to do the same. So I did what every self respecting unashamed woman would do (and was doing) - pee behind the bushes with all the men. Suup. So emptied out and ready to run, I went to find my pace group. I figured it would be better psychologically to run just before the 9:00 pace group than to be struggling to keep up with the 8:55 group. They had organized "pens" starting from the start line of approximate paces so I made my way to the back to find a 9:00 pacer there. I didn't bother trying to find Nathan and Alex since they were planning on running a slightly slower pace anyway.
Right of the bat the pace I felt good at was faster than my pacer, so I just took off on my own, figuring if she ever started to pass me I knew I had to step it up. I felt good and strong and as the miles went on I comfortably settled into a 8:30 pace, which felt amazing. About halfway through I saw the Rubins there to cheer on Alex and Nathan, and thinking they were behind me waved to them and said they were. They looked confused, and I wouldn't know why until a few miles later, when I came up behind Alex and Nathan! Imagine my surprise since I thought they were running a slower pace then me yet somewhere after mile 9ish here they were in front of me! Turns out they had found a slower pacer but they were in a group closer to start than my pacer, so they started before I did. I ran with them for a bit then pushed on, knowing that as I fatigued here in the final stretch I needed to maintain my pace if I could. Around mile 10 I started to slow down to about a 9:30 pace, as it was starting to warm up, and I knew the finish was close but not close enough, so mentally I began to feel the wear. But I finished strong a few minutes under my 2 hour goal, with no injuries and feeling fantastic! My fastest mile was mile 4 just over 8 minutes.
I'm very proud of my accomplishment, but won't feel complete until I concur a full marathon. I have set my sights on the SD Rock & Roll full marathon in June of 2015. Timing and location was difficult, as there are not as many full marathons to choose from out there as you would think. And with our busy schedule, there were few options. Since we will be in town for Jared & Kaitlyn's wedding the end of May anyway, the decision sort of fell into my lap. The biggest problem will be training and running at that time of year, as it will be a lot warmer than my body does well running in.I'll just have to wake up really early to run before the day warms up or do evening runs. But I have no time goal for the full marathon (just finishing I figure is challenge enough) although loosely in the back of my head I would like to finish in under 5 hours.
