D&L Half Marathon

Today was the big day.  Ever since I ran the Quadzilla Trail Race in midsummer, I started focusing on the D&L Half Marathon.  When I made my first comeback in 2009, I ran a marathon within the 6 or 7 month time frame.  That was just too quickly.  This year, I decided I would just focus on a fall half marathon.  This was close and much cheaper than the Runner’s World Half Marathon, so I chose this race.

I spend a lot of time training on the course, often running mile repeats from Cementon north and back.  I was shooting for a 7 minute pace.  Sometimes, I hit that goal on my repeats, other times I didn’t.  I felt like I could be fairly close to that or at least my half PR time of 1:33:11.

My parents were driving along the course.  Because of that, I had them park in the town of Northampton.  I didn’t want them to get caught in the start area.  I didn’t realize how far it was to the starting line though.  I had quite a little jog to do to get there.  It did make for a nice warmup.  I had to check in at the start, but then needed to run back to the car to get all my clothes on.  By then, it was getting close to start time.

I was struggling with what to wear.  I was originally planning on just the LVRR singlet and arm sleeves.  The temperature was in the upper 30s though, so I was unsure.  I also knew it would be quite windy along the river.  When I warmed up with a long sleeve tech shirt, it just seemed like too much.  I went with my original gear.  That worked out well.

This is a small race.  I knew that last year 15^th place overall was right around my PR.  Therefore, I elected to line up in the front row at the start.  Few people seemed to really want to line up there.  It was a good spot for me.

We took off and I was somewhere in the Top 15 or 20.  When I was warming up, I had trouble with my compression shorts.  They kept falling down my behind.  Not completely down or anything, but just a little.  I’ve run in these shorts a lot and that never happened before.  I would pull them up and tried tightening them, but I had to do that several times.  Eventually I somehow fixed the problem.  It took over a mile into the race to do that though.

The beginning of the race felt easy, but I looked at my watch and the pace was just too fast.  It was 6:27 at a third of a mile into the race.  I knew I had to slow down and I did just that.  One of my calf sleeves fell down around this point as well.  I came through the first mile at a solid 6:53.  A little fast, but the first mile is always too fast.

A few people passed me around this point.  One of them was the 2^nd place woman.  I was so far in the front that I had a pretty good idea of where I was at.  I could see the 1^st place woman up ahead and even the overall leader for a while.  I ended up passing one of the guys that passed me.  Not sure why he was going so fast so soon.

Before the 2^nd mile, we were running on the street, but along the east side of the Lehigh River.  The wind was already brutal and I could tell that it would be in our faces for most of the run.  It definitely slowed me down as I came through that mile at 7:21.

We ran over the bridge and I saw my parents by the Cementon Trailhead.  I was so glad they made it over the bridge before we came through.  Otherwise, they would’ve been stuck in traffic, waiting for both us and the full marathoners.  That race started 10 minutes later.

Getting onto the main trail was great.  I’m so used to running on that surface.  It is better than the roads.  It was also familiar territory.  After a slow 2^nd mile, I knew I had to pick it up.  I was still passed by a runner here or there.  One of them was an older guy without a shirt on.  That was a little crazy.  A lot of people were overdressed, but I think this guy was definitely underdressed. 

In the 3^rd mile, I started getting into a groove.  At this point, I was just over my secondary goal pace of 7:06 pace.  Early on, I pretty much scrapped my hopes of breaking my top goal of a 7 minute pace.  Running into the headwind was just too much.  It was so brutal.

We got to the first water stop.  I decided to take some Gatorade.  It was terrible.  I don’t know if they didn’t mix it right or not.  It tasted way too strong, almost like it was spiked.  From there on out, I just took water.

I just continued to cruise along.  One of my biggest fears was that I would be running most of the race alone.  While I was never right near anyone, there were always a few people just up ahead.  I could see the 2^nd place woman for almost the whole race and John Page from the Lehigh Valley Road Runners.  I don’t actually know John, but he is so tall that he is hard to miss.

Within the next 5K or so, I passed a couple runners.  As a whole in the race I probably passed more people than passed me.  It’s tough to say.  The guys I had passed in this section were breathing hard.  I was thinking, how are they going to run for another 10K plus.

I figured that my family would be at the Cove Road Trailhead.  They were there and I got a gel from my mom.  It was good to see them, especially since there weren’t many people along the course.  I am grateful for everyone that came out to cheer.  Being on a rail trail, it was mostly just us runners.  There was a guy with a bunch of sponsorship signs by his property.  I think he had a couple beers too.

Cove Road is right around the halfway point.  At this point, my overall pace was about a 7:09 or so.  I figured that I could pick it up at the end and set a PR.  After the trailhead, the path hits the only true hill of the course.  The whole course is gradually uphill though.

I do love hills.  Most people stay the same at hills or back off.  I do the opposite.  I push a little more.  This was one of my better miles.  I came through it at 7:05.  My overall pace dropped a little.

Between Cove Rove and Slatington, there wasn’t much but mile after mile of trail.  There is an occasional house.  They are sure interesting places in the middle of the woods.  Somehow I don’t even remember running by the one weird house that I usually go past.  Obviously I did.

My time through 10K was within a mile of my 10K PR from October.  I didn’t push too hard in that race, so I didn’t think I was going too fast.  I didn’t feel great at this point, but I kept plugging along.  The brutal headwind just seemed neverending.

It was strange whenever we hit a part of the river that was calm.  All of a sudden, I wasn’t working so hard and I felt so much faster.  That never lasted long though.  I’d have to think that the wind was causing me to run somewhere between 5-10 seconds per mile slower than I would have otherwise.  I wasn’t cold even with the wind.  I did feel some chafing around my armpit though.  That started bothering me with about 5 miles to go.

When my mom handed me my gel, it was around mile 6.  That was too early to take the gel, so I held onto it for a while.  At mile 8, I finally took it.  It was a Strawberry Banana GU.  That wasn’t the greatest tasting thing.  I had to keep it in my mouth for some time before swallowing it.  A mile later, I took my final drink of water to wash it down.

Originally the plan was to run hard for the final 4 or 5 miles.  With how much the wind was bothering me, I readjusted it to 2 miles.  I knew I had to be smarter and make an adjustment on the fly.

The shirtless guy and another guy were running together through this stretch.  The other guy eventually took off.  I could tell that the shirtless guy was falling off a little.  I was creeping up on him as we approached Slantington.

We went through the last water stop and the shirtless guy stopped and I didn’t.  I passed him right there.  I figured that would be a great spot to make my move.  With how much he was slipping, I knew he couldn’t respond.  We had to run through the parking lot at this spot and that was tough because the stones were bigger.  It really threw off the rhythm.  

After going over the road and back onto the trail, I sort of glanced back.  I could tell that the shirtless guy was still there.  I was so dead at this point, but I knew I had to try to shake him.  I decided that I would make a short surge just to break him.  It worked as I opened up more of a gap.  A classic running move and great practice for the future.

Even though I hoped to pick it up in the final 2 miles, I just didn’t have it in me.  I didn’t feel like I ran too hard, but I had to work so much against the wind.  I guess it finally took its toll.  I was falling apart.  I made sure to really just keep pushing myself.

The whole run was windy, but it got even worse as we approached the Lehigh Gap.  It was like I was running in place.  At this point, I was just looking forward to finishing.  I was around a 7:10 and knew I now had no chance at setting a PR.  Every tenth of a mile seemed like it took forever.

Within the final half mile or more, I could actually see the finish way up ahead.  I could see woman’s 2^nd place and some others up ahead of me.  I could also see the crowd watching the race.  It looked so far away and I felt like I might never get there.

I knew I had to keep giving a lot because I could sense some people coming from behind.  I knew they weren’t close enough unless I really fell apart.  I think it was the 3^rd place woman approaching me.  I think she might’ve got by the shirtless guy.  I’m not sure because I didn't completely turn around.

Right near the finish, I saw Jennie from the BCR and also high school.  It was good to have her volunteering and cheering me on.  She's had some injury problems and is working her way back now.

I kept going and pushed hard through the finish.  It wasn’t my usual sprint finish.  I just didn’t have anything left.  I came through with a 1:34:29.  Considering the conditions, I was happy with my time.  Sometimes you just have to accept that it isn’t your day.

I was proud of myself because I didn’t completely quit or back off.  My times slipped, but it wasn’t because I ran any easier.  I would’ve liked to have really tested myself and just pushed even harder at the end.  I’ve never really done that.  I haven’t tried to go beyond my limit.  Without the wind, I might have tried to give a little more.  I thought about my health problems when I thought about relaxing and backing off.  I couldn’t get myself to do that.  It didn’t help me push ahead, but at least I didn’t go easy either.

My dad forgot my sweatshirt in the car, so I was cold for a bit after the finish.  He did give me his shirt at least.  Then he went back to the car.  I waited around at the finish.  I wanted to get some pictures of my friends finishing.  I missed Shayne until was right next to me.  By then, it was too late for a picture.  I got plenty of pictures of Tom and Angie pacing.  I also got some photos of April too.  I was hoping to wait around until Mel came through with the marathon runners, but it was just too cold.  I wanted to get some soup after that, but it was too crowded in the tent.  I guess I should’ve grabbed some when I was initially in there right after I finished.

I would’ve liked to have run a better clock time, but all in all, I’m happy with my race.  I don’t really see anywhere where I could’ve run much better given the conditions.  I knew I could run hard for about 8 or 9 miles and that’s what I did.  I probably need to work on some faster longer runs because I did slip in the final 5 miles.  I need to be pushing on at that point, not fading away.  

Six and a half months ago, I was running my first mile after surgery.  That was a 10:09 mile.  Now, just a short time later, I’m up to running a half marathon at 1:34:29.  In my first comeback in 2009, I started about the same time of year.  That year, I ran a half in early October at a 1:41.  It took me until March of the following year to run my 1:33:11 PR.  Now, it is early November and I’m already on the heels of that.  I’m making amazing progress.

This wasn't a bad race, but with the wind, I'm not sure I'll run it again.  It would be so much better if we ran in the other direction.  We'd have the wind at our back and it would be downhill.  Of course we wouldn't have the cool finish area between the gap, but oh well.

Perhaps the greatest thing about today was my foot.  I have only run once this week and little the week before.  My foot was bothering me every time I landed.  I put an insole in today and ran with it and had no problems.  It worked great for keeping the pressure off the ball of my foot.  When I tried it earlier in the week, it got all wrinkled and was uncomfortable.  Today, that wasn’t a problem.  I accidentally wore it upside down.  That worked out.  Now, I can run with it.  I won’t have to take time off and bike.  As long as the foot isn’t sore, I’ll keep going.  I’m also going to sign up for the Run for the Diamonds Race now.  It is a tough 9 miler in Berwick on Thanksgiving Day.  It is my favorite race ever.  I can’t wait!

Officially

13.1 miles – 1:34:29 (7:13 pace)