I woke at 5am to temps in the low 60’s. Was this gonna be yet another hot race? I exchanged my long sleeve top and tights for a tank with Zensah sleeves and capris, all in stealth black with a cheetah headband.
As I drove to the race I could hear the wind. Great. This was a new race for me so I had no idea what direction we’d be running, just that the course, according to Runners World, was ‘challenging’. More specifically the first half was billed as ‘rolling’ with the back half as very hilly.
I chose it because it’s 5 minutes from my house.
The race starts in a newish park that is all wide-open space. Winds are howling and it’s freezing. I keep my jacket on until the last possible second. What I didn’t know then was that mid 60’s was our high for the day and the temps were actually dropping.
We go off hard into the wind and within the first 50 yards we start the first of many climbs. I feel good though.
Goals
My training so far this year has been lax. Not sure I’ve run more than 20 miles per week.
No tempo runs
A whopping two speed sessions complements of lung sludge and ornery hamstrings.
I’ve run 13 miles exactly once this year and that was at my half over a month ago.
Goal C: 9:10 average pace–10 seconds/mile faster than last month’s half marathon (since that was a hilly one as well)
Goal B: 9:00 average pace
Goal A: Sub-9 average pace
Again I’m in the dark about the course so not sure if these goals are reasonable at all.
We wind around neighborhoods, 95% of the time hard into the wind as we’re heading west where we’ll eventually enter a gravel trail.
There’s a girl with an Ironman tattoo on her calf just ahead of me.
Spectators are very sparse but those that are out are wonderful.
Lots of spectators are wearing their new green Boston jackets. I congratulate them all.
The headband was the right choice because hats are flying off all over the place.
To make a long story short, basically we fight into 40mph winds for 7 or 8 miles.
By mile 8 I’m struggling to stay in the game. I’m lying to myself like crazy telling myself how easy this is, how light and fast I am. Basically I’m cracking myself up with BS.
We finally turn onto a gravel path and go up and around a parking lot, back onto the path, then down into an underpass that takes us to the other side of a nature preserve. Where is everybody? Am I dead last?
And the real fun begins. Hair-pin turny, winding, wooded hills so steep I could barely get footing. And muddy flooded out areas. And wind of course. There are no course marshalls in here so it’s anyone’s guess where to go. I’m totally alone now, except for a stray dog in the high grass who decides to run with me for awhile. Good times. I’m too tired to be afraid of the dog. I curse my paltry mileage and vow to come here to train.
I finally lose the dog and climb my way out to a country road (hilly of course). It’s about mile 11 and I’m so sick of the whole thing I get into my head. I try to make myself care about this race but I just don’t. Come on this is strength training. I can feel my lack of endurance. I’m distracted, looking for a reason to walk.
I’m sure my headband has blown off.
I should stop and adjust it.
I should get the gravel out of my shoe.
I should rinse my sticky fingers off.
I push the distracted thoughts out of my head and slog on.
At last we’re back to the park where the finish line is. There’s one loop around, one more hill. I crest the hill and on the second to final turn I see someone coming up hard behind me.
It occurs to me I can’t remember when anyone has passed me during this race; certainly not in the last half.
So it’s not gonna happen in the last 200 yards.
I give it a final finishing kick and thankfully I am able to hold my spot and finish strong.
Wow this was an ugly one. Harder than March Madness, maybe because the course was a mystery to me. The wind was the biggest obstacle of the day.
Although my time was neither a personal best or worst, I felt like I ran well, given my lackluster training and the conditions.
Finish Time: 1:57
Average Pace: 8:56
Enough for 3rd in AG!
I didn’t think I had a prayer of winning anything so I left long before the awards were given out.
