Eat Drink Run Woman

What a difference a year (and hardcore training) make! I ran this race for the first time last year, dubbing it the “Strongest. Half Marathon. Ever.” Ah, what a naive young thing I was!

Reading the 2007 race report brought a smile to my face on several fronts. Here are some choice excerpts:

I compete against myself and yesterday my bad self whipped my wimpy self all over the course. HAH! Comparing 2007’s “bad self” to 2008’s would be like comparing Marie Osmond to Courtney Love.

…my finish of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 35 seconds… Ummm… Hello? Conveniently forgetting that 2 minute, 20 second potty break now aren’t we?

Yes, I was sore and in need of some serious couch time immediately after the race, but I feel fine today and even mustered up the strength for a 4-mile walk. Whatever. I’ll be RUNNING five miles tomorrow, you wuss.

I attribute my success to Jeff Galloway’s run/walk program. Sure, if you want to stay middle-of-the-pack, that program is fine. But if you want to run with the big girls, Pfitzinger’s program kicks ass.

And here’s the best:

I’ve decided I don’t need to prove anything by trying to run a sub 2-hour half marathon; I’m just looking to have a good time and keep my body healthy and injury-free for the next race. Screw that! (Okay, not the “having a good time” and “keeping my body healthy and injury-free” part).

Of course, some things never change:

With Helen serenading me, I picked up speed, passed several runners, blew my darling a kiss and sprinted powerfully over the timing mat. Oh wait, I suppose that needs to be re-written for this year:

With Helen serenading me, I TRIED to pick up speed, but GOT passed BY several runners, blew my darling a kiss and sprinted powerfully lurched dizzily over the timing mat.

I’ve been looking forward to this race for months. As I mentioned in last year’s post, it’s particularly significant since it’s a fund-raiser for colon cancer awareness (colon cancer runs in our family). And how cool is it to run a race on a course that looks like a foot (minus the toes)! But this is the first long race I’ve run twice, so it was great to compare my progress. Last year I followed a 12-week training schedule, logging in a little over 150 miles. While I was diligent with my weekend long runs, I often bagged on the mid-week ones. In the three weeks before the race I only logged 14 1/2 miles (although I think I was sick one of those weeks). My weight on race day was 166.4.

This year was considerably different. In the 12 weeks leading up to the race I logged in 311.5 miles. I did a mini-taper this past week, but still put in almost 36 miles. And by watching what I ate and eliminating alcohol for the past couple of weeks, I weighed in at 161.6 this morning (although by the time I ate my pre-race steel-cut oats and drank my coffee and water, I’m sure I gained a couple of pounds).

I had a three-tiered goal for this year’s race: bottom-line was to PR (beating my Seafair 2006 time of 2:03:33), my slightly more challenging goal was to break the 2-hour mark, and my “pie-in-the-sky” goal was to finish in 1:55:00 or under. While I nailed the first two (finish time of 1:58:02), I still have something to shoot for with my next half marathon adventure.

Given I was actually racing this year, my anxiety level was quite high. Due to all the hill training I had done, I was feeling pretty creaky. I was particularly concerned during my 4-mile recovery run on Thursday as I felt I couldn’t run any faster than a 10:30 pace. But obviously two days of rest helped freshen up my legs. I ate a very sensible diet the day before (although I did allow myself a glass of wine and a slice of ice cream cake at our friend’s birthday dinner) and drank plenty of fluids.

The race started at 9 a.m., but we dragged ourselves out of bed before 7. I had pre-made our oatmeal so we just needed to heat it up in the microwave, but we still found ourselves dawdling. I had hoped to get out the door by 8 a.m., but by the time I was lacing up my shoes it was 8:15; D’oh! Fortunately Mercer Island is not too far away and traffic was fine… until we hit the island. Parking at the community center was already filled, so we were directed to overflow parking about a mile away. My darling tried to calm me down as I unleashed a litany of swear words. However, parking so far away proved to be a wise move: we not only were able to do a warm-up run to the start line, we darted into the restrooms at McDonalds to empty our bladders. By the time we got to the community center we had just enough time to say hello to a fellow Taper Madness forum member and get in line at the start.

While last year’s weather was great (other than the first few minutes at the start), this year’s was even better. Not a drop of rain; just cool, overcast skies. I bid adieu to my darling at the 7-8 minute pace line-up and headed back to the 8-9 minute one. At 9:05 the gun went off, and so did we.

In order to keep myself from going all out in the beginning I purposefully put in a couple of slower songs into my iPod. Who better than Mr. John Denver talking ’bout those country roads to start me off. As I passed the 1-mile marker I glanced down to see an 8:46 lap; definitely faster than my goal pace, but I didn’t think it was too fast. My next mile was the fastest of the entire race at 8:40, but then I settled into a pace of just under 9-minute miles.

I once again pinned the blue colon cancer awareness ribbon to my butt (hey — it’s the most appropriate spot, don’t you think? After all, people wear the breast cancer ribbon on their chests, don’t they?), but since it got a bit squished it just looked like I had a piece of tape stuck to me. At least 10 people pointed it out; one gentleman politely tapped me on the shoulder to tell me about it, saying a few people were making fun of me. My response (other than to say it was deliberate)? “Yeah, but they’re still BEHIND me, now aren’t they?!!!” As each person informed me I used it as an opportunity to encourage them to get colorectal screening.

My biggest triumph during the race (aside from the sub 2-hour finish), was to run down the steep section just after mile 5. While my hill training primarily concentrated on getting strong for the uphills, I also practiced my downhill running. In the past they would aggravate my knees, so I would deliberately slow down. In training I realized if I quickly picked up my footsteps during the downhills I could go fast without hurting my knees. I still didn’t go all out, but I definitely picked up my pace and therefore didn’t get as anxious when I had to slow down for the uphills.

And boy, those uphills.

This year’s course was modified from last year and included two long, albeit gradual hills. But the killer was where they were placed: one just after mile 10 and the larger one toward the end of mile 12. As I was slogging my way up them I kept muttering the mantra of one of my blogging buddies: “I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU BITCH!” (I’m sure the hill just rolled its eyes as it saw me struggling to conquer it while on the verge of passing out).

By mile 10 I was pretty confident I’d finish in under 2 hours (even if I ran those last three miles at a 10-minute pace, I’d still make it). I ran the first mile in 8:57, but slowed to a 9:15 pace for the second (which included the worst hill). Mile 13 was another 8:57, but unfortunately I had yet one more hill to conquer before I could cross the finish line. As I was making my way up it I heard my darling call my name. I wanted to tell him to run up to the finish in case I passed out, but my ability to verbalize was shot. Fortunately my dizziness quickly passed and we were soon celebrating our successes. (Actually my darling claims he failed: he was shooting for a 1:37:00 finish, but had to settle for a 1:38:27).

Now all I have to do is continue that pace for twice as long come June!