Even though I have friends down there, I didn't bother staying over anyone's house. That meant that I had to leave at 4:30 AM. I hate mornings, so that was quite a chore. I couldn't fall asleep last night, so that made it even worse. I got maybe 4 hours of sleep. I had about that same amount on Friday night too.A bunch of friends were running it. Kelley was nice enough to get my bib for me (actually her brother did). I was grateful for that. I met up with her and the other friends before the race. I had to run back to my car to get changed. Earlier, I was lucky to find a bathroom on the way down. I wouldn't say I was rushed, but I didn't have a lot of time to spare before the race.
I managed maybe a half mile warmup. I really was hoping for 2 miles or more to get the legs going. I did some strides too. At least I was able to do something. It was a fairly good size half marathon, but not too big. The weather seemed nice at the start, but it is summer. I wore a singlet with my compression shorts.
The first wave was a sub 7 minute pace. I was thinking that I'd easily do it, so I lined up there. I didn't line up too far to the front. I was hoping that might hold me back. Instead, it just meant that some people were in the way. One guy that I had to go around was going super slow. That was annoying as hell. I guess the start at the back was even worse.
I was clear pretty quickly and I got into a groove. I was breathing a little hard and the first mile was faster than I would've liked, but that is the norm. It was a 6:11. Usually, I can start hard and then slow down and get into a groove.
This start was pretty flat and a nice way to begin. After that, I knew there would be some downhill too. I didn't think the course would be too hilly. I slowed in this second mile, but already I knew it was probably going to be a tough day. The legs didn't feel sharp and I was tired. Even before the gun went off, I felt very tired. It probably didn't help that I ended the week with a hard trail run yesterday.
I continued on and was quite a bit under goal pace. I heard people yelling for the runners in super hero costumes behind me. I figured that it must be my friend Orlin. I thought he would pass me, but he never did.
The first couple miles were definitely solid, but it was taking more work than I had hoped. The same thing happened in my PR half back in the winter though. I felt like I might be going too hard at mile 5 then, but I was able to keep at it and just keep pushing through. I thought I might do the same today.
I knew one of the main hills was the climb up the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. I was running near a few people and really hammered it to get to the top of it. I thought it was flat after that. I was wrong as there was still a gradual climb on the east side of Fairmount Park. This was definitely more climbing than I was expecting.
I should've taken water before the bridge. That was about the only water stop I skipped all day. I wasn't able to drink much water at each stop. I think I got more on my singlet. I probably should've carried a handheld.
Coming through the east side of the park wasn't easy. I was already starting to feel the effects of the heat and humidity. Really, it wasn't that bad, but at this fast pace, it was very difficult for me. I'm terrible in the heat.
At one point, we ended up running through some cones. I think that we weren't directed through the correct route. That makes sense because my GPS ended up being short. I followed the group though, since I was unsure of the route.
I came through what was the halfway point at 6.2 miles and just over 41 minutes. That was solid, but again I don't think we ran far enough. It was nice to finally head downhill and on to Kelly Drive.
I felt like crap at this point and I think a few people passed me. I was still in PR range, but I was fading fast. The road on Kelly Drive was fairly flat, but I was still struggling with the heat.
At this point, I decided to try to slow down a little and play it safe. I didn't want to overdo it with the tough weather. My pace didn't drop too much at this point. Since I used to live in this area and ran the route all the time, I visually knew how far I had to go. That was discouraging because it seemed very far.
I couldn't wait to get to miles 8, 9 and 10. I think around mile 8.5, I was still on PR pace. There was no way I was going to sustain it though. The weird thing is that at this point, I was fading, but the people up ahead weren't pulling away. In fact, I actually even passed a guy.
It was good to get to Falls Bridge and be heading back. It was also good to have people running around me for a change. At least I wasn't doing this run on my own. The only people I was encountering now were blowing by me though. Someone else went past and asked me about my distance and I told him my watch was short too.
This section on West River Drive seemed like forever. I was alone for a lot of it. There were some bikers out and few spectators. I saw some cute girls here and there. That was a nice distraction from my suffering.
I just sputtered along. I had slowed down already, but body was telling me to slow down even more. I wasn't breathing heavy and I had no soreness. My body was just beat and exhausted. My pace got slower and slower.
I was thrilled to be in the last 5k. However, I ran all the rest of this alone. The other part that sucked was knowing about the big hill at the end. It took a long time, but finally I got to that point.
It was good to nearly be done with this disaster. I was actually still on pace for a sub 1:30 half, but I knew I'd never get up that hill that fast, so I didn't push. The hill was tough, but I was just cruising up it at this point, so it wasn't too difficult.
I picked up slightly on the flats toward the end. Much as I suspected, I was going to come up short on the distance end of things. That was discouraging. However, it did cause me to break 1:30. If we didn't end up on that shortcut, I would've run about a 1:30:30.
I was very disappointed with my time, but I had so many factors going against me. I didn't let it bother me too much. Kelley struggled too and was pissed at the end. Few people did well. Even the winner (who won St. Luke's) said he had trouble with the heat.
I just can't handle long distances with any kind of heat. It has been kind of cool here so far this year too, so I haven't had a lot of chances to adapt. I really need to work on that. After today's race, I'm not very confident in my marathon attempt in a month and a half. I'll lower my expectations and just go up there and run it and see what happens.
Even if the course did run to the correct distance, I still would've run my second best time ever. Being able to crash and still post that kind of time isn't too bad. I was surprised to see that I was 30th overall and 4th in my age group. I didn't feel like I placed that high. They had nearly 3,000 people.
With all my friends there, it was fun hanging out after the race. They had free beer and I did not. Then, four of us went to brunch. It was pretty late in the afternoon by then, but it was delicious nonetheless.
I've run for 9 straight days, so tomorrow will be a much needed day off. Then, I have to really get after it. I want to put in 3 very good weeks in a row. I'd love to hit 80+ miles every week. Then, I can taper and rest and see what happens. I'm hoping for a fairly long run on Tuesday.
12.87 miles - 1:28:53 (6:54 pace)
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