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February 18, 2008
Race Report: Austin Half Marathon
It's no secret that I have been severely lacking in the motivation arena lately, and as the race drew nearer, I was overwhelmed with regret. I did not want to run it - I was terrified of humiliating myself and of wasting a lot of money on a frustrating trip. There were certainly elements of good, bad, and ugly involved in this endeavor, but at the end of the day, things looked pretty good.
Heading into this race I would categorize my training as less than ideal - far less than ideal. When I ran my then PR at Grandma's last June (1:23:28), I had been throwing together 13 and 15 miler back to back days on the weekends; I had been doing two solid workouts a week; I had been running consistent 50+ miles per week; I had been sticking religiously to H's prescribed schedule. I was confident when I toed the line. The race will run itself, I told myself. The miles were in the bank.
This time around was drastically different. Since October 7, I have completed two longs runs - a 16.5 miler and a 15 miler. I have been doing workouts when the inspiration strikes; I have been taking up to two days off per week; I have been wandering in the desert without a running schedule (H. refuses to give me a new one at this point; he's a big believer in patience and recovery); and I am carrying an extra 4 - 5 pounds of "baggage." Needless to say, I toed the line with a gymnastics team of butterflies flip-flopping in my stomach. I had absolutely no confidence.
(All "splits" below are from memory . . . I never take splits during races . . . I check my watch and simply do the math)
But then the gun went off and I had no choice but to put my head down and run. I tucked into a pack of women shooting for the Olympic Trials Standard; the half and the full did not split until the 10 mile mark. My first two miles were a pair of 6:22s up a pair of hills. The pace - to my surprise - felt easy. Heading into mile 3, I found myself running in between two groups of women trying to qualify. I hit the three mile mark in 18:57 and then the next two miles we coasted up and down with one (the ONLY one) nice downhill. I picked up the pace and let gravity do its job. I hit 5 in 30:40. I hit 6 in 36:54 and proceeded to have my first "oh sh*t" moment. My legs - from a lack of hill training and a lack of long runs - were starting to feel the burn.
I did a quick gut check and I told myself that I had to hang in there until mile 9 . . . that is when I expected the course to start rolling downward. Little did I know that I was completely deluding myself (the website did say miles 9-13 were "downhill," but anyone who actually gutted it out knows otherwise . . . I thought the hills from miles 9-13 were far more unforgiving than the hills from miles 1-9!). I coasted up another hill and hit mile 7 around 43:29. Trotted up another hill to 8 in 49:56. I never saw the 9 mile marker, but I hit 10 in 1:03:00 (my splits were all over the place).
I was starting to feel the fire again - I was ready to slip under 1:23 (with room to spare!).
But then I hit Mount Everest at miles 10-11 and that was the deciding factor in my race . . . a kiss of death to my sub 1:23 . . . I crawled (seriously, I CRAWLED) up the hill. The spectators actually felt bad for me! It was so awful that I am not going to relive the 42 crucial seconds that I lost here. I ran my slowest mile of the race . . . 7:00. I hit mile 11 in 1:10 :( I tried extremely hard to recover my legs, but they were out of steam. I did hit mile 12 in 1:16:05 . . . only to be greeted by yet another HILL.
I never saw mile 13 . . . but I staggered home in 1:23:17.
Instead of rehashing what was bad and ugly about this race, I am going to focus on the good :) I opened last season with a 1:27 half in March and followed it up with a 31:16 8K. I didn't want to let the year 2007 go because it was a good year, but I am finally ready to face 2008 with a renewed energy.
So now I am opening the year with a 1:23 half on the strength that I gained last year . . . I cannot wait to gradually build my mileage into the 60s and maybe - just maybe - hit some consistent 70+ mile weeks. It's been a slow progression, in terms of mileage, and a giant leap, in terms of race times.
H. spun it like this to me: when he met me in November 2006, he had to teach me to crawl again before I could walk. From his perspective, I learned to walk in 2007. Now it's time to run.
Posted by bridget at February 18, 2008 3:57 PM
Comments
Wow - this race report makes your mark at Austin even more impressive considering the less than ideal training and course! Great way to start the year. It really is time to "run" now!
Posted by: Beth at February 18, 2008 5:06 PM
um...so your down-time produced a PR?!?!!? :) Man, i DO remember when the Austin 1/2 was FLAT!!!! that was my PR!! but i guess things have changed!!
congratulations!!
Posted by: Audrey at February 18, 2008 11:17 PM
Wow Bridget! My goodness. Just imagine if that course was flat! I am so excited to see what the rest of the year holds for you.
Posted by: Salty at February 19, 2008 8:03 AM
it seems like a ! solid ! 2nd place to me...
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at February 19, 2008 12:50 PM
What a great race report! Just keep focusing on the good and who knows what you can do!
Posted by: Alison at February 19, 2008 7:45 PM
Bridget!
How did I miss all this! I was looking at results from Austin today and I see the second women's finisher in the half is this woman whose name I know! You! Congrats on gutting out a great time and grat finishing spot even though not all the stars were alinged for you. I definitely second Alison in saying that you should focus on the good and on your potential!
Congrats again!
Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at February 22, 2008 8:07 PM
Me, again. I had like 17 typos in my comment. So sorry! I hate that... :)
Posted by: Meghan at February 22, 2008 8:08 PM
... and just to hammer (as you like to say) the point of your good performance, I will be thinking about it tomorrow for my Half...
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at February 23, 2008 12:11 PM