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September 19, 2004
I'll take it
Thank you to all who sent encouraging words for this race. The PDR is one of the best half-marathons in the country. I feel so lucky that this race is local for me, but I would definitely travel to do this race. One of the little bits of trivia that they were bragging about before the race was that something like the 10 fastest half marathon times have been recorded in this race. It really is that fast of a course.
I woke up early this morning to take care of business before leaving for L's house to head into Philly. When I turned on the weather it was only 52 degrees out, brrr. The forecast was also calling for gusting winds, uh oh. They were calling for sunny skies. I was also worried since they said on the news that parts of Kelly Drive were flooded. Portions of the Delaware River had flooded as a result of all of the rain yesterday. The course starts in Center City, heads out through Old City (the oldest part of Philly, very nice), past the Art Museum (where Rocky ran up the steps), out West River Drive, turns over the Falls Bridge, and comes back Kelly Drive. Then you head up past the Art Museum again and finish along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. There are some inclines on the course, but it is mainly flat and fast.
L and I left for the city around 6:30 and got parked and settled around 7:15. We were freezing since it was significantly cooler than it has been lately and much windier. We jogged a little bit from the car to the starting area, maybe a mile. At this point we separated. I had a seeded number and found out after the fact that I had a hotel room in the city, a staging area, and sweat drops. I'll remember that for next year. I found a random port-o-pot in a parking lot that had a short line and had my nervous pee. I had on a throw-away tee shirt over my racing outfit and had on gloves. I would have liked to have sunglasses because it was really very sunny on portions of the course. About seven minutes before the start I got rid of my tee shirt and lined up close to the back of the seeded runners area. They did the national anthem and then we were off.
My goal for today was to run a consistent and strong race. In the first mile I was amazed as I always am at how many people were in front of me. I started very close to the line and was not running all that slowly. I was getting passed left and right by men and a few women. When I hit the mile, I looked back and saw 6:22. I thought that I might have been running faster, started to freak out that I was running too slow, and then got myself back together and calmed down. I hit 2 miles right around 12:40. At this point a guy around me said to his buddy, "we're going too fast, I can't keep this up" and then stayed in front of me for at least another mile?!? I didn't hit the split button at any of the miles. I was noticing where I was. Every mile was within a few seconds of 6:20. All the way along West River Drive was into gusting headwinds. Every time I tried to duck in behind some men I was running close to, they would slow down. I decided that I would be the one who would set the pace. Tiny me, but I was not going to use the wind as an excuse to slow down. The final five miles were with the wind at our backs. This was much nicer. About the first 3/4 of a mile along Kelly Drive was very muddy and wet from where the river had overflowed. Everyone was mucky at the finish. I think that my splits were a little bit faster from this point in. On the results, it looks like my second half was just a little bit faster than my first half.
Around 11 miles, I passed two women who were in front of me. Just past the 12 mile mark, one of them came flying past me. I don't know where she got it from. Even though I have run this race 4 times, I still forget exactly where the finish line is. I know that it is further up than you would think it is. I managed some sort of finishing speed, not kick, but a slight surge. I squeaked under 1:23:00 which made me very happy. Earlier in the week I said that I would be happy to get under 1:24, and J had predicted 1:23:40.
On the way home, my stomach started to get upset. When I got home, I was feeling pretty awful. As a matter of fact, I still feel pretty awful. I don't really want to eat, but I noticed that my stomach was a little more settled after I ate some lunch. My left ankle is also very sore. When I twisted it on Monday it felt kind of like this. It started to get very tight around 10 miles. Now I'm limping on it. I've been icing it off and on all day, but I think that I'm going to have to fill a bucket with ice water and soak it some. I've also been trying to massage and stretch it.
Today was not a PR for me, but it was one of my fastest times. It gives me some confidence for the race that I think is going to be my peak race for the fall. I only had one long run under my belt for this race. One thing that I am very proud of is how consistent I was. Sometimes I go out and do something stupid in the first few miles. I may have run over my head, but I didn't get in too deep until late in the race.
One last note, even though I ran quite well, I still did not even place in my age group. My age group was stacked, since when I looked at the results I would have placed in any other age group. It doesn't matter that much to me, I'd rather have lots of competition than win a little medal.
Posted by Blondie at September 19, 2004 06:12 PM
Comments
A few things... First, congratulations! Second, I didn't want to mention this earlier (didn't want to add any pressure) but I noticed that your name was on a list of elite athletes someone sent out earlier in the week :-) As for not placing in your age group, you could have gone to any number of half marathons around the country and won them, but I think you're right, it's worth giving up a cheap plastic trophy for the good competition. I was reminded of that in my race yesterday!
I hope this is a stepping stone to many more good races this fall!
Posted by: Alison at September 19, 2004 08:02 PM
I knew that I had comped entry, but I didn't know that I had all of the other extras! Good competition is definitely worth much more than winning, in my opinion. Thanks for the words of good luck.
Blondie
Posted by: Blondie at September 19, 2004 09:34 PM
Congrats! A great race under not-so-perfect conditions! Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at September 19, 2004 10:54 PM
Awesome race Blondie! And really neat that you were in the "elite" seeding. :)
Posted by: Beth at September 20, 2004 07:35 AM
HI Blondie, Nice race! I think it is so helpful to have fast people around you in a race. Hope you are recovering well. Looking forward to reading more about your training! Good strides..
Posted by: Mary at September 20, 2004 10:18 AM
Wow, great job Blondie!!! Sounds like it was a very solid race (and being in the elites is very cool). I think you will do very well this fall :)
barb
Posted by: barb at September 27, 2004 04:22 PM