Half Marathon - 10/19

Woohoo!

The official time for my half marathon was 1:55:14. My HR monitor clocked it at 1:54:25.

At first, the time differential confused me - I started my HR monitor when I crossed the start line, and I thought that since the race was chipped, it wouldn't start the clock until I passed the starting line. So I was confused as to why the official time was almost a minute longer then my actual run time.

When I started thinking about it though - I reasoned that the chip only records the time when you cross the finish line. Perhaps its not possible for the chip system to take into account everyone's personal start time. While it wouldn't be too difficult for it to take the official end time and substract the delay of getting to the start time - it just might not do that for whatever reason.

I felt like I ran a really good race regardless, though. It did take a minute or so to cross the start line - a thousand people starting a race is naturally going to result in some initial slowness. My dad and I crossed the 1 mile marker at about the 10:30 to 11 minute mark (based on my own stopwatch - so around 11:30 to 12 minutes official time). I had wanted to make sure I started off slow in order to give the muscles time to warm up before hitting my stride, so that I wouldn't accidentally over do it, so I was ok with that pace.

However, by the 3-4 mile mark, we started settling into 9 minute miles as the field of runners started to thin out a bit. That first portion of the race had the full marathoners and the half marathoners running together, but around the 3-4 mile mark, the two sets of runners split and the field thinned out a bit more. It was never completely thin, as the race course went through sections where it got narrower and wider, but by that time we were comfortably running at our goal pace. So I knew that as long as we kept that pace, I'd be able to make up the lost 45-60 seconds. At the 6 mile mark water station, I took about 45 seconds to give the quads a quick stretch, as I felt pretty certain that I'd be able to make up the lost time in the last half of the race.

Soon after that, between the 6-7 mile mark, we passed the official clock that read 1:01 to 1:02, and I was still feeling pretty strong. In fact, I said "we're halfway done already!" My dad then said 'the second half is longer'. While I knew what he was saying, I kept my 'yeah, but it'll be quicker' thought to myself :)

So we kept on trucking along, slowly gaining speed as the mile markers went by. Around the 8-9 mile mark, someone running just ahead of us said that we were 24 seconds faster then the official clock for a 2 hr pace (a 2 hr pace for a half marathon is about 9:10 min/mile). At that point, I knew I had the 2 hr goal in the bag - it was just a matter of by how much it would end up being. All the while, my HR was a comfortable 160 bpm - plus or minus 5-8 bpm depending on terrain grade.

At the 9 mile mark, my stopwatch had a time of 1:21, almost exactly. Right on the money - 9 miles at 9 min/mile is 81 minutes.

This was where I felt like the 5 mile run I did in 40 minutes the other week really paid off psychologically. I was still feeling strong after 9 miles, and with only 4 miles left to go, I knew based on that previous run that I could kick things up a notch and have the endurance to last until the end. Hell, it was only 4 miles.

Once we passed the 10 mile mark, I decided to go for it. I told my dad 'ok, I'm going to see what kind of damage I can do', he said 'ok, good luck!' and off I went.

I can't describe how awesome that last 3.1 miles was. I was passing people left and right. My HR was hitting the 165-170 range, and I was steadily passing dozens of people. My legs started feeling it a bit more, but I knew I could do it.

As we got towards the end, I thought we had made the last turn and I started an all out sprint. My HR went up to 170-175, and I was expecting the finish line in another 50-75 yards. That one turn turned into another, when it opened up into the park that was the end of the race, when I heard someone say 'all the way around to the other side!'

SON OF A BITCH! I THOUGHT I WAS DONE!

So there I was in the left field side of a baseball diamond, and the finish line was all the way around near first base. Ok then, I guess we gotta keep the sprint going around the warning track. The HR got up to 181 by the time I crossed the line, still passing people in that last few hundred yards.

I crossed the line, and looked at my time on my watch - 1:54:25.

I had done it - I completed the half marathon and blew away the 2 hour goal I had set out.

When they were handing out medals, the shiny reflective thing and water, you bet your ass I grabbed the medal first. I got plans for that medal.

Overall, I placed 390 out of a field of 1000 registered runners (results here). Within my age group (30-39), I placed 70 out of 140 - smack dab in the middle.

Not bad for a first go around - but I'm not done yet, and I got bigger plans. Next year, a sprint triathlon and a full marathon.