When I got out of bed in the morning, the National Weather
Service website claimed that it was 9 degrees.
The race would not start for a few hours, but my nerves were already working
overtime. I rarely run outdoors below 32
degrees. I am quite content on the
treadmill. Unfortunately about 2 weeks
earlier, I decided to pull the trigger and enter an early season half marathon.
I was not and am not well conditioned for a 13.1 mile
event. My last long run was a month ago
and was only 6.8 miles. To feel ready, I
would have liked to have logged a couple of 10 mile runs. However, I naively assumed that I could treat
13.1 as a 10 mile training run and just coast in the last 3 miles.
The weather complicated things not only for my lungs, but
also for course support. Water bottles
had ice floating in them, the energy drinks were extremely cold, and even the
consistency of the energy gels more closely resembled caramel than gel. As usual the volunteers and course marshals
were great and kept me in good spirits.
I started to feel like I had over-reached a bit at mile
5. I was desperately seeking the
turnaround while accepting that I had 8 miles to go and no logical bail-out
point. If it were a 2 loop course, I would
have taken the DNF at the 6 mile mark.
The toughest stretch was around miles 6 and 7 where I could get a view
of the race ahead and competitors walking a climb that included multiple
switchbacks. I don’t mind walking, but
seeing racers ahead of me succumbing to the elevation gain, made me realize
what a tough spot I was in.
My legs started to tighten up around the 11 mile mark. I got a bit of a boost as I started to catch
some of the slower runners in the first wave that got a 45 minute head
start. Knowing that those competitors
would be on the course over 3 hours, forced me to toughen up as my 2.5 hour
goal time was still in reach.
I walk-ran the last couple of miles and cruised in at 2:31:41. Which placed me 353/421 starters, 181/193 among men, and 32/35 among men 40-44 years old. I was satisfied with my time, but did not expect to be in the bottom 10% of the field. However, considering the athletes lining up for a half marathon in February in 23 degree weather, I felt a lot better about my race.
Thanks to SkiPix for race photo support.
I walk-ran the last couple of miles and cruised in at 2:31:41. Which placed me 353/421 starters, 181/193 among men, and 32/35 among men 40-44 years old. I was satisfied with my time, but did not expect to be in the bottom 10% of the field. However, considering the athletes lining up for a half marathon in February in 23 degree weather, I felt a lot better about my race.
Thanks to SkiPix for race photo support.
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