Garmin: 2:19 and 13.25 miles. WTF?
Avg. pace: 10:33
Avg. heartrate: 157 (half of Adam's)
I've been running now for just over a year and I can really say I like it. I like races, but I don't feel competitive towards others, just myself. But I still get a bit nervous, which is natural and appropriate. So the night before this race, I was expecting our 2 year old to have a rough night, or something that would keep us awake. This mental jinx lead to an enormous allergy outburst on my part at about 1:45 am. I was sneezing and nose running, eyes red and had to go sleep on the couch. Then I got cold and came back to bed at about 4am, and woke up Maria and then skipped through sleep until 5 when the alarm went off. This should be fun.
Got up and got dressed and did checklists. HJG got up at around 5:15 and was in good spirits. Kim, our awesome neighbor/temp baby sitter and Maria's running partner Eve got to the house at 6 sharp and we took off. We parked at a metro and took the train to Central and had a very nice walk to the start. Got to a porta. Indescribable conditions! Wandered around and got water and said hi to some people we know. We saw the 50Ker's coming in and got our pictures taken by marathoner extraordare Deb.
Got to our corral and met up with the 2:22 pace group. There were about 10 of us. Thanks Jane from ARR for running with a sign! Then I had to pee again. I may have a growing problem. Got in a mile long line and after a quick calculation, figured that if I waited, I would start the race with corral 200 so I went back to my spot. Moved up and saw the animatrons of Mayor Phil and Sen McCain. All those runners thought they were real. And kapow, we were off and running.
My plan was to find the first set of portas and then catch up to Ryan Hall. Just after mile one found another line to some portas and spent about 5 minutes waiting at a 52 minute/mile pace-according to my Garmin. Ouch. Got back on the road and fell into a nice rhythm. More quick math determined that I would catch the pace group around mile 10 if I ran 30-45 seconds faster, but I caught them at mile 5. Ran and chatted with Jane for a while then went ahead for a while. They passed me as I walked through the mile 8 waterhole and gu'ed. Then we leapfrogged each other for a while. She was pushing the pace to try to bank time for the "hills". I kept pace and passed them on the hills. I felt strong in mile 10 -not like the breakdown I had at Fiesta in December -Runlaur, you would have been proud.
On the "hill" I had a recurrance of last year's social problem. There were about 100 or so runners all around climbing in complete silence. Last year I turned around and yelled, "I thought there weren't any hills in Phoenix??!!?" Got some chuckles. This year I was determined to stay quiet but the crazy bubbled out again. I turned around and yelled, "C'mon rock and rollers, how about some chatter!!" Cricket cricket. I had about 100 people looking at me like I had just announced a white supremacy slogan. Then there was some chatter as groups discussed my candidacy as ass-wipe of the year. I ran my shamed butt up that hill quick!
I kept wondering what part of my body would snap. Would it be the hammys? The calf? How about something new like my knee? Nothing. So I went negative for the last three and finished the last .1 sub 10 crossing the line right with the ARR pace group. I actually felt like I could keep going. Very happy!
My goal was to complete the 1/2 injury free and not have a race photo of me making a funny face or working the Garmin. Mission accomplished. Waited for Maria and Eve who crossed the line in tears. Maria's ITB is really bad now and she will seek medical attention this week, but she made it!!
7 comments:
congrats on your run. I did the half too. Slower than you, but without reinjuring my leg. Which means it was a good day. So, whens the next race?
p.s. they say that getting a good nites sleep the 2 nites before the race is key. since it is hard to sleep the nite before.
You crack me up!! I had a similar experience. The race was a 5K and 10 mile so when the 5K-ers turned to go back it was just us 10 milers. So I yelled "Yay for 10 milers!!!" ...nothing... oh,well, it made me feel better :)
I am so glad that calf held up!!
Sorry to hear about your wife :( Hope she has a quick recovery although ITBS is a B*$#@.
Wow- what a terrific race! Congrats on such a strong finish and for finishing injury-free! I distinctly remember that hill from last year. You are right- people tend to get pretty quiet around there and you know they are mentally cursing that hill. That crowd needed to lighten up a bit.
I hope Maria's ITB recovers quickly!
What a fantastic race! I'm so happy to hear that you're in one semi-painless piece too!
Nice work!! The great thing about racing is that you are only racing against the clock. That and any one who comes within elbow range in the last 10 yards.
I seriously laughed out loud at the thought of you hollering while going up the hill. I probably would have let out a phlegm filled weeeze for you. Promise.
That is a really shitty break about Maria's IT Band. Hopefully she is able to get it taken care of.
On to San Diego!!
Congrats on an excellent race!!! When I ran Chicago Marathon my friend jumped in with me at Mile 22to help boost my morale in case I was struggling and she was bouncing up and down and trying to rally the troops but they were not having it so finally she just announced that she hadn't been running and she was sorry. LOL!
Glad to see you finished with a smile on your face and feeling great! Congrats!
Great run! I think you should have brought back the "hills in Phoenix" quote for a return engagement on the hill.
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