Well, I felt pretty decent this morning (although a bit tired, since it was 5am), so I decided to drive to Olympia, WA, to race today. Cold and frosty, especially at the race site, where the humidity was thick and the air was a frigid 30-something. At registration, decided to go for the 1/2 marathon, deceiving myself into thinking that the slower pace (compared to the 10k) would make the race "easier". Also decided to go out by feel and not worry so much about the target pace. I honestly figured there was no way I'd PR this race, since I ran 18 miles yesterday, and a relatively hard workout Friday (not to mention a somewhat stressful week).
After milling around trying to stay warm and warming up with a quick .5 mile jog, 8:02 am arrived and we were off. First watch check was a few minutes in and my garmin pace was around 6:30.....a bit fast, I thought, but that usually happens right out of the gate, so I wrote it off. I was in a pack of around 7-8 for the first couple of miles but pretty soon the pack dwindled to 4-5 and soon thereafter became an extended line. Seems like my downhill speed is pretty good as I was able to pass most of the pack I went out with and soon was trailing just one individual relatively closely with one more about .2 in front.
I managed to pass the close guy on the steep downhill at 4.5 by running a good tangent. Also managed to hold him off on the steep uphill, so now the chase was on for the final guy I could see. Ahead of him were the gazelles, so I concentrated on not letting my rabbit get away from me. That chase lasted the remainder of the race.
I did see the lead group, college track stars out to try to qualify for the NAIA Marathon Championships as they headed back up the path near the road at around the 6 mile mark. We were headed generally downhill for a while and figured I'd enjoy it while it lasted, paying for it on the return. At this point, my legs did feel pretty worn out, but I was still holding pace under 6:40, which was well into PR territory. Hmmmm....
The return trip uphills went thru some dense forested areas (ah, the beautiful northwest), which completely threw Garmin off. Up to this point, it seemed like the mile marks were coming up .02 short, but in here Garmin lost almost .5 mile and therefore lost track of accurate splits, which as it turns out was a good thing. I focused on pushing as hard as I felt I could sustain (plus a little) and in not letting my rabbit in front of me get away. I was definitely using all the tricks to stay on target....not thinking of the # of miles left, focused belly breathing, concentrating on the next step, etc. The icy patches made turns interesting (downright exciting in a couple of spots), but I managed to negotiate everything safely.
I managed to keep my rabbit on a leash until around the 11 mile turnaround point (last 4 was an out and back stretch) when he started slipping away. Mentally, hitting the turnaround point was helpful and I managed some stronger pushes on the last couple of miles. It wasn't enough to keep up with my rabbit, who seemed to have saved up for a gear I didn't have. Still I kept pushing on until I had the finish in sight, and managed to kick to the end. I knew I was spent when my breathing in the last .2 or so started sounded asthmatic, something that happens to me when I'm about done in.
1:26:15. Huh? That's almost a 5 minute PR from last August! Granted, that's 6 months of training, but 5 minutes? Wow, I was pretty pleased. I'm pretty darned happy with the result considering I was about as unrested as you can get.
My garmin splits, which are probably mostly worthless, were:
* 6:33
* 6:43
* 6:40
* 6:44
* 6:49
* 6:42
* 7:03
* 5:17 (This split was way off, as I manually hit the lap button to help Garmin out. Splits from here on out are pretty good.)
* 5:56 (This split was real since it was right after I got Garmin caught up and corresponded to the mile markers! A sub-6 split??? It wasn't even all a downhill! What was I thinking!!!)
* 6:44
* 6:53
* 6:28
* 6:38
* 1:00
So, one mile slower than 7, which is likely true as that was the all uphill mile. One faster than 6 which I'm still amazed about. Plus, a PR to boot. Good race day! Of course, my internet was down again all day, so I was forced to suffer in silence and had blogging withheld until today, when it magically restored itself. Argh!
Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 239 miles.
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