The road to 13.1: Mission accomplished

At long last, and after 292.81 miles of training runs, the sun finally rose on race day.  My friend Jen and I showed up on site at 0645 EDT; despite the general unhappiness about getting up really early, we were rewarded with super-mega-mega-primo parking.

Dear Jen,

Yes, I know that the general unhappiness about getting up really early is entirely of my creation.  Thank you for tolerating me.  On the upside, you were able to get petrol at Speedway with no waiting!

Sincerely,

Darrell

We chilled out in the parking lot for a little while, and then we headed inside to get ready for the race.  I stretched, and we worked on catching up with the rest of the Running Peeps to get them their team bibs for the morning’s run.  For my part, I did massive quantities of socialising all morning, and probably failed to do enough stretching in the process.  After spending so much time with these folks, though, running with them, suffering through winter weather and injuries with them, and striving for the very same goal … well, it was a big deal to catch up with the folks who meant a lot to me.  I didn’t see all of them, but I found a lot of them.  Then, at 0815 EDT, right after the national anthem, the airhorn sounded, marking the start of the Borgess Run for the Health of It – National City Half Marathon.  I made it across the starting line about 90 seconds later and set about implementing my race strategy.

Originally, it was going to be pretty simple.  I wanted to cruise out through the first part of the course around a 10:30/mile pace, slow it down and do what I had to do to get up the hill on Mt Olivet Road and through Spring Valley Park, then use whatever I had left to get to the finish as quickly as possible thereafter.  The weather had stayed rather cool most of the spring, with highs rarely even making it into the 60s Fahrenheit, so it seemed like a good strategy.  What complicated matters was a bit of a heat wave.  We had a couple of rather warm days this week, with Saturday being one of them.  The low Friday night was 60 F / 16 C; by 0700 EDT, it was already 70 F / 21 C, which was warmer than the air temperature for any of my training runs.  Because warmer temperatures didn’t complicate things enough, we got a decent amount of humidity, too, making it feel even warmer.  Given all of that, I sort of went into “Alabama summer” mode and planned accordingly.  I opted to stick with my pace strategy, but I had to add lots of hydration to my plans.  Generally, I don’t pick up water at stops along the course.  Today, though, I snagged at least one cup of fluid at all but one of the stops.  When that fluid was water, I drank about half the cup and poured the rest on my head.  On top of that, I drank or wore about 30 of the 36 ounces of water I carried on my belt.  There was a bit of a breeze, so the water poured on my head really helped keep me cool.  The extra fluids I drank helped keep me hydrated; had I consumed what I normally drink, I would have crashed out before I ever made it to Spring Valley Park.

I started well, going out a bit slower than 10:30, but gradually building my pace.  I cruised down the Gull Road hill and into downtown, clipping along comfortably in the general vicinity of 10:30, taking advantage of little downhill moments to gain some time against my pace without overextending myself.

After the race, I found out that the strategy was apparently working well for me.  Jen and I stopped by Gazelle after the run, and Tyanna told me that I looked comfortable, strong, and happy when I passed by, while a lot of the other runners in that pace group were not looking so relaxed.  It would have been awesome feedback to get during the race, but it would have been impossible to get said feedback, and I’m happy to get it even after the race.

While downtown, I picked up a wingman.  He and I were running around the same pace and started talking, so we just linked up and ran together for a while.  ”A while” turned into about eight miles.  Along the way, we got to know each other a bit, and I offered what advice I could about dealing with Mt Olivet Road and Spring Valley Park.

By the time I got to Mt Olivet, I had picked up a few hundred feet against my pace, but had no problem at all giving it back up the hill and through the park.  I probably could have kept my pace going for at least a little while, but I would have hit the wall somewhere in the park.  I suspected the park was going to claim a lot of victims in the heat, and I didn’t want to be one of them.  So, after a couple of miles climbing and descending at a bit over 11:00 per mile, I started slowly building pace again near the park exit.  By the 11-mile mark, I had pretty much resumed my pace from the early part of the run.  My right foot was a little sore by that point; fortunately, I came upon my friend Kris, and we seemed to push each other a bit.  I was still recovering strength, and by the 12-mile mark, I knew I would be able to make a strong finish.  About halfway up the last hill, I accelerated my pace and began to get ready for the finish.  My friend Ron was at the top of the hill with music and a high five.  I was moving very well as I entered the Borgess complex, but enjoyed the extra motivation that Rob provided by coming out to encourage me through part of the last quarter mile.  When I rounded the turn to the finish, I was flying (by my standards, anyway).  There were a couple of people in front of me, and I was able to overtake both of them in those last few feet and practically skipped across the finish line.

Because statistics matter (to me, anyway), the numbers that matter are as follows:

Time:  2 hours, 17 minutes, 59.90 seconds

Placing in Classification:  71st amonst 81 men between the ages of 30 and 34 (inclusive)

Placing in Gender:  420th amongst 501 men

Overall Placing:  726th amongst 994 total runners

I had established a goal of 10:30 per mile, and I didn’t make that goal.  Given the weather, though, I’m very happy with my time and how I got it.  In addition to managing Mt Olivet Road and Spring Valley Park, I also had to manage the weather.  I feel like I managed both very, very well.  Really, the only thing I would like to have improved was my pace immediately upon exiting the park, but I’m not faulting myself too much on that one.  After all, I covered the distance faster today than I did in either training run of that length, and both of those runs were in weather conditions much more favourable to running.  All in all, I don’t think I could have done any better.