Win Some, Lose Some

Sunday was the first of the two half marathons I had planned to run.

The long story short is I fell waaaaaaay short of my goal for the race.  There are several reasons which could have contributed which I hope to fix in 2 weeks.

So the morning started out pretty early even with the time change.  I was up early on dog detail and my lil cutie pie, Ember, decided that on that day she only wanted to play outside instead of taking care of business.  This led to me wasting a bunch of time outside and then she created a big mess for me inside to take care of before heading out the door!  Good thing I love that furball of a puppy!

Finally made it on to the road but was just feeling generally kind of crappy.  I could not swallow completely as the thick funk in my throat seemed even worse than it had the past week or two that I have had been sick.  Super fun trying to clear my throat the entire way out there!  It definitely gave me pause with my goal but I have been putting in some decent workouts I thought over the past couple sick weeks so I was hopefully I could muster up a decent run despite it all.

Upon arrival to the race, I was able to easily get my stuff and was ready to board the bus as the half marathon was point to point.

Race temperature was 38 at the start and the weather report looked like it would warm up to 42.  The wind was pretty strong mainly coming out of the south but slightly also out of the east which was not ideal seeings that we were running east the majority of the race and then south.  Thankfully the route was lined with trees most the way and it was not bad until heading south.

I dressed a little warmer than I normally would because I was not aware that we could drop clothes on a bus to return and I did not want to be super cold.  Upon getting off the bus I had about 15 minutes so I hit the portopotty (and all 4 of them were out of tp-not cool!) By the time I was running, I managed to get in one mile before I headed over to the start line.  However apparently we were not starting on time and it took some time before I even seen a race organizer.  Then a bus rolled in full of more racers.  Hope they did not need tp or a warm-up but they did get a couple minutes to hit the POP.  By the time we got going it was 8:17 and now I was cold.

I took off trying to settle into 6:52 pace.  We headed west for the first half mile which was nice with the wind at our backs before making 2 sharp left turns putting us onto the bike and hike path heading east.  Three guys went out fast in front of me.

Mile 1- 6:47, Not feeling too bad but this was not feeling very good either!
Mile 2-6:41- a little fast but managing fine.  I think I am passed by another guy.
Mile 3-6:51- crap, I already know this is not going to be my day.
Mile 4- 6:53- I am thinking seriously I cannot imagine running 9 more at this pace!
Mile 5-7:06-What if we just try to keep to ease up a little bit and see if I start to feel better?
Mile 6-7:14- Got passed by a couple more guys.  I am suffering!

Almost half way and all I can think is I am not even halfway and I am soooo miserable.  I am now frustrated that my pace is slipping into slower than some of my long runs' paces but it is taking most everything I had to keep running.  The main thing driving me is that I know I am winning the women's race.  I decide to run hard and quit looking at the paces.

Mile 7-7:17 - "Why do I do this for fun?"
Mile 8-7:06- Counting down the minutes
Mile 9-7:19 - Had to slow down and fix my Ipod as one podcast ended and I at least needed something better to listen to! 
Mile 10-7:09- ???  Why am I am mile 10?  For some reason I thought I only had two left. NOOOOO! I can't bear the idea of needing to run one more mile than I thought I was at!
Mile 11-7:22- I got nothing left
Mle 12-7:24- Finally just one more mile of torture.  Older guy passes me.
Mile 13-7:27- Into the wind and uphill grade.  THIS IS JUST MEAN!  Where is the finish line?
Total Time: 1:34:07, 7:11 pace, 1st overall female and 8th overall.


I got done and could not catch my breath...AT ALL.  I felt crappy and just kept coughing and coughing!  I was hugely disappointed that I did not run as well as I know I can but the sting was dampened that it was nice to get the Overall Female Win.

Average HR 175,  MAX 183- It was not that I was not working! Part of me wondered if it was just that I was not pushing as it was a little lonely on the course.  But judging from my HR, clearly I was pushing, it was just not meant to be this day.

I am hopeful that if I can get myself healthy and warm up properly, that I can do this next time.  Nice to know that I was getting a redo in two weeks and hoping I can do it.

PS- I have always thought I would be able to run NY marathon if I wanted as the half qualifying time was 1:33.  Now it has been dropped to 1:27.  Running a 1:27 half sounds awful difficult for me!