Last weekend I ventured north....way north, to Grand Rapids, Michigan to run the Grand Rapids Half Marathon. Naomi and our friend Lauren would tackle the full. I signed up mostly on a whim since I would be going anyways to support Naomi. I had zero expectations for this race and figured I would just run however I was feeling that day. I had not really run a half in about 3.5 years, since I ran the Tybee half in February of 2007 in 1h 28min. I only ran 3 or 4 times in the two weeks coming into the race, but I'd done a lot of fast tri racing in the last month.
On race morning we awoke to perfect racing conditions. I had a good nights sleep - thanks Naomi's brother Dennis and his wonderful family for hosting us. They also showed up at 8 AM for the start of the race and cheered us both through the whole ordeal. I toed the line feeling optimistic. When the horn blew I positioned myself with the 2:59 full marathon pace group and decided I would run with them and see how it felt. We glided along and it was feeling almost effortless at 6:45 miles. I Passed the Newton gang after a few miles
and gave them big goofy wave - I was having a grand ole time. The leaders of the pace group did a fair amount of talking which was pretty entertaining, the miles were ticking away fast and smooth. Doing some quick math in my head I figure we were right on pace for me to be just about at my PR.
Nearing the half way point I started to feel myself surging off the front end of the pace group and decided I must not waste this opportunity to run a fast half marathon. I brought my tempo up and left the pace group in the dust. My garmin read of my mile 7 split at 6:18 and it really didn't feel to frantic. Seeing a low number like that got me really excited so I did some more math...if I could hold onto that for the last 10k of the race I'd be around 1:25 or 1:26 total time. The next three miles I ripped off 6:19, 6:19, and 6:20.
5k to go and I started to have to work for it a bit, and my HR was letting me know it - I was only about 3 beats from my threshold of 185. The greenway path I was running along came to a T with another path and there was no course markings. I went right, then quickly realized 3 guys behind me went left, shit - that just cost me a couple hundred feet of extra running and maybe 15 or 20 seconds. This kind of knocked me off my rhythm a bit and my HR went up even more. Garmin tells me that mile was 6:30, not to bad only 2 to go and I star
t to get my rhythm back. I'm really gritting my teeth now running way outside my limitations at this point. As I start to double back on the course we ran out, I see all the 4:30+ plus full marathon pacers prancing along like their out picking fricking dandelions. Meanwhile I'm grimacing like a gazelle trying to escape a couple of hungry lions, full on foaming from the mouth.
Garmin beeps again saying 6:27 for that last mile. The course breaks from outgoing traffic and I'm pretty much all alone. Wide open and flat to the finish there's only a handful of runners ahead of me. I passed a few more runners, make a right turn and see the Newtons giving me a big cheer so I stick my tongue out in the fashion of a dog that just can't stop chasing his ball. The Garmin beeps 6:23 and I'm at 1:25 something with the last tenth to go. Hit the line in 1:26:15, an new PR by a couple of minutes - definitely a fist pump worthy performance (and yes I did a fist pump).
This was easily the most fun I've had at any marathon or half marathon I've done. There's nothing quite like feeling great on a long run and having it all come together when you least expect it. I had a nice recovery brew while soaking in a hot tub at 10:30 AM thanks to Dana! Naomi wasn't to happy to hear that I was living the good life while she was crankin' it through mile 20 of her marathon, but I felt it was well deserved after all the races I've had this year.
Time to start planning the 2011 racing schedule - more to come on that later!
No comments:
Post a Comment