Got up at 4:45, drank my coffee and ate my toast. Left the house at 5:30, arrived downtown at 6ish and had no trouble parking this time! Headed over to the race site, used the facilities (kudos to the brilliant race director who decided to put the facilities under street lights so that people could see!!!), and found a lovely curb to snuggle with Preston and get bitten by mosquitos on until the start.
My Garmin was grumpy since we were starting under a building-bridge, so although I started the timer, I didn't get any GPS data until around a quarter of a mile into the thing.
I had run part of this course before - the Dad's Day 5K in June of 2007 took place here. I remember how daunting that hill seemed on that day. It was still daunting yesterday, but this time I was going to have to run it 6 times!!
The course is a hilly 3 loop course. I got the feeling that the out was a bit more down hill, and the back was more up hill, and also with a headwind.
I started out a little slower than my past two races. I thought that perhaps pacing is why I keep dying at the ends of these longer races, so my goal was to run between 10 and 10:30's for the first loop, then pick it up a bit if I could. I was sucessful in this new pacing plan, as my splits will show, though it didn't prevent me from dying in the last 3 miles.
I definitely felt better for the full first 10 miles than I have in my past two races. I felt strong, and I was running along at a clip that I felt I could maintain. I walked only the water stops. I sat Preston twice per loop, which I enjoyed very much.
I was feeling a tiny bit tired as I headed out onto the third loop, but I knew I'd be ok at least until the 1st water stop, since there was plenty to keep my mind occupied until then.
As I approached the 2nd water stop, I started to feel that I was going to have to take a bathroom break, and when I saw an open facility, I jumped in. Although the stop only kept me for about a minute, I felt stiff as I started running again, and it was after this point that I really started to struggle (just before mile 12).
I still crossed the half marathon mark faster than 2 weeks ago (by a few minutes). However, at that point I was struggling sufficiently that my goal became to NOT WALK anything but the last water stop. I felt like all the walking was my big disappointment at the Houston Half, and I didn't want to fall into that trap again. I keps shuffling along, checking my watch for how much farther I had to go, multiplying by 10 and telling myself that I only had that number of minutes to go. I noticed landmarks from the first two loops and talked myself through them to the last water stop. From there I was able to process the concept of running to the end, which I did.
I experienced some cramping after I stopped, just as in the Houston Half. I must work on this.
I don't have my official time, yet, but I think I was around 2:46:something. I will post the Garmin splits and the final results as soon as I can.
I'm a bit sore today, and feeling a little tired, but otherwise I am fine. I wish that I was faster, but try to keep reminding myself that for this season, just finishing the races and going the distances should be my most important goal. I am very pleased that I seem to be able to go a few miles farther in each race before the wheels come off.
My hope now is that in the Rock n' Roll San Antonio Half Marathon next weekend I will finish the whole race and not feel bad at all. If the pattern continues, this is a reasonable expectation!
My Garmin was grumpy since we were starting under a building-bridge, so although I started the timer, I didn't get any GPS data until around a quarter of a mile into the thing.
I had run part of this course before - the Dad's Day 5K in June of 2007 took place here. I remember how daunting that hill seemed on that day. It was still daunting yesterday, but this time I was going to have to run it 6 times!!
The course is a hilly 3 loop course. I got the feeling that the out was a bit more down hill, and the back was more up hill, and also with a headwind.
I started out a little slower than my past two races. I thought that perhaps pacing is why I keep dying at the ends of these longer races, so my goal was to run between 10 and 10:30's for the first loop, then pick it up a bit if I could. I was sucessful in this new pacing plan, as my splits will show, though it didn't prevent me from dying in the last 3 miles.
I definitely felt better for the full first 10 miles than I have in my past two races. I felt strong, and I was running along at a clip that I felt I could maintain. I walked only the water stops. I sat Preston twice per loop, which I enjoyed very much.
I was feeling a tiny bit tired as I headed out onto the third loop, but I knew I'd be ok at least until the 1st water stop, since there was plenty to keep my mind occupied until then.
As I approached the 2nd water stop, I started to feel that I was going to have to take a bathroom break, and when I saw an open facility, I jumped in. Although the stop only kept me for about a minute, I felt stiff as I started running again, and it was after this point that I really started to struggle (just before mile 12).
I still crossed the half marathon mark faster than 2 weeks ago (by a few minutes). However, at that point I was struggling sufficiently that my goal became to NOT WALK anything but the last water stop. I felt like all the walking was my big disappointment at the Houston Half, and I didn't want to fall into that trap again. I keps shuffling along, checking my watch for how much farther I had to go, multiplying by 10 and telling myself that I only had that number of minutes to go. I noticed landmarks from the first two loops and talked myself through them to the last water stop. From there I was able to process the concept of running to the end, which I did.
I experienced some cramping after I stopped, just as in the Houston Half. I must work on this.
I don't have my official time, yet, but I think I was around 2:46:something. I will post the Garmin splits and the final results as soon as I can.
I'm a bit sore today, and feeling a little tired, but otherwise I am fine. I wish that I was faster, but try to keep reminding myself that for this season, just finishing the races and going the distances should be my most important goal. I am very pleased that I seem to be able to go a few miles farther in each race before the wheels come off.
My hope now is that in the Rock n' Roll San Antonio Half Marathon next weekend I will finish the whole race and not feel bad at all. If the pattern continues, this is a reasonable expectation!
1 comment:
I randomly came to your blog looking for HMSA 25K results. Nice run and best of luck for your San Antonio marathon.
Cheers,
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