Week 18 (part 2) - Those last 2.1 miles are a royal pain

April 30 – May 6

Total Mileage – 23.34

Weight – 211

It is officially in the books.  I survived my first half marathon…barely. 

I got off to a good start to the week with light training runs.  My last training run was a 5k and I was feeling good after.  No more pain than usual.  I spent Friday evening going through the checklist making sure everything was ready for Saturday morning.  I pinned the number on the my shirt and made sure that I would not bug me while running, I secured the timing chip to my shoes to make sure that it would not cause any issues, made sure the iPod was charged and ready to go.  The list was pretty extensive.  Once the bag was packed, I attempted to get some sleep.  I did not sleep as soundly as I hoped (too anxious I guess) but I was up early and figured I’d get down to the site with a lot of time to spare. 

The event had staggered starting times.  The marathoners went out 30 minutes ahead of us and I was able to get into the starting gate about 15 minutes before it was time to go.  I got a much welcomed phone call from Gregor who wished me luck and let me know that he only had 6 miles to run for his race(s) today.  I definitely needed that call to help calm down a little bit.  It was a long 15 minutes in the starting area.  You would think that people would be used to seeing Vibrams by now but I had plenty of people tell me how crazy I was for wearing them, how the course was going to punish me for wearing them, etc.  You only need a handful of comments before you start to wonder if they are right. 

Although I have to hand it to whoever was in charge of hiring the band at the starting line.  Once I heard the rendition of the theme from Rocky played on Bagpipes I was back in the right frame of mind and was ready to get after it.  As we got out of the gate we were running on either grass or pretty compact gravel trails.  It was not until after I made it out of the first set of hills that I knew it was going to be a long day. 

The trail quickly turned from compact gravel to larger crushed rock that was much more unforgiving.  There were three sections on the way out where I had to run downhill under bridges.  The sections were super rocky, and the rocks were pretty loose.  I was able to get a pretty good grip with the KSO’s but I felt every rock in my mid-foot and heel.  The worse part was knowing that I had to face those sections coming back.

I started out a little too fast.  I had calibrated my Garmin earlier in the week against my brother’s GPS Garmin, but the distances were still off from those marked on the course (who knows who’s measurements were correct).  The issue with that is it led to my pace readings being off.  I was ahead of the 2:15 pace group for about 6 miles, then they caught me and I never saw them again.  The first 6 miles were pretty uneventful.  It was all about getting a feel for how the ground would hold up and getting used to having an open course (meaning that the general public was on the course at the same time so you had to be prepared for bikes, dog walkers, and in my case, a guy on horseback – who did not clean up after his horse if you know what I mean).

Mile 7

The aid stations were pretty easy to navigate (I was able to drink on the run at the three stations I utilized without spilling all over myself – a big improvement over the last race) and there were plenty of EMT’s riding on bikes to keep an eye on everyone.  At one point there was a lady who pulled out around me to pass and as she got a few steps ahead of me hit a tree root and went down – hard.  The EMT was right there.  I did not see her for the rest of the day and I hope she was able to continue. 

Mile 7-10 were considerably tougher than the first 6 and I could feel the strain that the trail was putting on my ankles. When you run on the street you pretty much know what you are going to get.  You step down, the concrete will be there, and you can push off.  With the trail through, you could step down, the ground could move, and you are on your face.  I had to watch every step, which is tiring in its own right.  I was able to be ahead of my “Sac Town 10” pace as I passed the mile 10 marker.  I moved right on through mile 11 and then things got interesting.

Mile 11 was where you started to come back into the park.  I could hear the music and the people at the finish line, but I could not see it.  All I could see in front of me were hills.  My mind began giving me all the self doubt I could handle.  10 miles had been my limit in the past and my mind was making me doubt my ability to keep going.

By mile 12 my legs were cramping up.  It seemed to take forever for the mile markers to appear.  I fell way off my pace and was starting to get concerned that I would not hit the 2:30 goal that I had set for myself.  I was pretty much running alone.  I could see one person about 25 yards ahead and could not see anyone behind me (which made me feel a little better because I could not see the 2:30 pace group closing in).  As I came around the turn the course had us go back through the parking lot.  This made me feel better as well since there were a lot of 5k and 10k runners headed towards their cars. (10k’s are now a weekly occurrence and I eat 5k’s for breakfast.  If they could finish their races, so could I.)

Mile 11

As I hit the top the last hill my thighs and calves were cramped to the point of having almost no give in them.  When the trail leveled out I heard my mom and Lucas cheering for me.  That helped me get through the last quarter mile.  As I rounded the bend I could see Renee and my Dad by the finish line.  It gave me a last boost of energy I needed to get across the line.  2:29:14 is the official time.  46 seconds ahead of my goal.  I did not hit my stretch goal of finishing between 2:20 and 2:25 but it gives me something to shoot for in Sept.  I finished in the top half (290^th out of 684).  I know that it is not the fastest time in the world, but I am proud to say that I finished what I set out to do.

How I Felt  (at the finish line)

(Dear runner 2934 and 3030 that gave me all of the grief at the starting line for wearing VFF’s – I beat you both by over 25 minutes)

Now it’s on to the recovery phase.  I am feeling a lot better than I thought that I would in actuality.  I think that it had everything to do with jumping into my parent’s ice cold pool after the race.  It was just as good as an ice bath.  I have minimal pain in my left foot, and almost no pain in my Achilles. My hamstrings and thighs are sore, but the pain is not terrible.  (I had to walk downstairs backwards for the first two days.)  I’m going to take the next week off and start to create a plan for the Giants half in September (running from ATT to the Golden Gate and back) and possibly CIM (Folsom to the Capital) in December.  The thought of doubling what I just ran is a little daunting.

The posts will likely be farther apart until I near September.  There will not be much to report other than: I ran…a lot.

Shout out to Brazen Racing for putting on a great event, and special thanks to my family for being there (whether by phone or in person) on race day.  I know that watching people run is not all that exciting, but it made all the difference to me knowing that you were there.