I signed up for
the Capital City Half Marathon the week following my 2:00:22 running of the
Covenant Health Knoxville Half Marathon.
Given the hilly nature of east Tennessee, I figured I could run sub 2 on
a flat course and finally put that goal to bed.
In any give half,
13.1 is rarely the distance from start to finish. Between wide turns (very difficult to run the
tangents even when thinking about it) and passing people along the way, I
always seem to pick up an extra tenth of a mile or so along the way.
I knew the 9:09 pace wouldn’t be good enough
for that reason, and set the goal to run this race at a 9:00 pace. Going into
the race I had no doubt I was physically ready to run a sub 2 race, but I was
struggling mentally. After all 9:00 is
practically 8:59.
And I don’t run distance races in the 8s!
I became even
more intimidated when I arrived at the race starting line. My projected finishing time had landed me in
corral B, while the slowest of racers would start in corral F. The sizes of corrals C-F were the same size
of corral A + B. My projected race of
1:5X:XX would put me finishing with the top of racers.
I’m not a top racer!
The race
organizers asked us to load into the corral at 7:40 for an 8:00 start. Thankfully Jay and MIL were able to stand
close by, and I spent most of the time dancing around and acting goofy in an
effort to embarrass him. I chatted with
a couple of my fellow corral Bers, the Mayor addressed the crowd, then the Race
Director spoke.
The National
Anthem was preceded by Sweet Caroline
and a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. I started
to tear up, knowing how blessed I am to be a part of such a great community of
runners.
With the sound of
the gun we were off. A lot of runners
passed me in the first mile, and I told myself it was because I was in the
wrong corral. I didn’t deserve to be
that far forward in the pack.
Mile 1 - 9:01
Along the course,
we hit a few inclines to change up the flat terrain. I certainly wouldn’t call them hills, but my
body reacted to them as if they were. I
noticed on the incline portions I slowed, but didn’t gain any speed on the
decline portions.
Mile 2 - 9:22
Throughout the
race, the crowd never really thinned.
When the quarter marathoners split off, the roads seem to get narrower. Passing was never easy and I was always
surrounded by people. The benefit to the
large race was the amount of spectators along the roads.
Mile 3 - 9:07
Early in the
race, I started battling with my mind. I
saw my slow 2 mile pace and kept telling myself the pace wasn’t good enough to
meet my goal. Somehow I morphed it into
ME not being good enough. I settled into
a comfortable pace, afraid of not being able to sustain more over the constant
flat terrain.
Mile 4
- 9:21
Mile 5 - 9:14
Mile 6 - 9:16
At this
point I knew I was losing the battle in my mind and needed a distraction. I turned my iPod on and tried to concentrate
on running with the music. My next few
miles reflected the wisdom with that decision.
Mile 7 - 9:05
Mile 8 - 9:04
Mile 9 - 9:01
Jay and his
mother were looking for me around the 8/9 mile point of the race. Never has a girl be so happy to see her
mother-in-law, and their cheers brought a smile to my face. I waved at them and pushed on. Around the next corner the wind was pretty strong. I appreciated the coolness of the breeze,
however, so I accepted it as the gift it was.
Mile 10 - 9:08
Mile 11 - 9:02
Mile 12 - 9:02
Mile 13 – 9:00
I had
seen a “Boston strong” poster along the side of the course, and decided my
final few miles would be for those who didn’t get to finish their race due to
the bombings. I pushed through to finish
strong. My efforts (and sharpie) were
rewarded as I received several cheers-by-name in the final miles.
0.1/0.25 - {8:31}
With the finish
line in site, I gave it one final push.
The closer I got to the clock, the more disappointed I became.
Garmin time: 2:00:47
Chip time: 2:00:52
Son of a Bitch, I tweeted while waiting in line for bottled
water. I grab my snack bag and filled it
as I went down the finishing shoot. The
finish line was so crowded; we were corralled in all the way to the after
party.
I was
PISSED. I wanted to yell, scream, and
say ugly words, but there were too many children waiting around the finish
line. Jay knew I was upset and tried to
tell me what a great job I did, but I wouldn’t listen.
I had come to
Columbus to break 2 hours. And I failed. This race was a failure. I was a failure. I AM a
failure.
I really haven’t
had a chance to scream, cry, and cuss like I wanted. Jay rarely gets to visit with his family and
I didn’t want to make the weekend all about me.
Intellectually, I know I shouldn’t be disappointed with this run – I barely trained, I didn’t push myself
during the race and yet I still ran a 2 hour half marathon. On some level,
I know how awesome that is. Eventually I’ll
get around to being proud of how far this former 2:44:5X half marathoner has
come.
But for now, I’m
pouting. Pouting because I drove all
that way for nothing.* Wasted 2 hours running.* Have a really cool medal and
tech shirt that piss me off at the thought of them.
*Once again,
intellectually I know this isn’t the case, but it’s how I feel.
My head beat me out of a sub
2 hour time. I’m open to suggestions
regarding mental training plans to keep this from happening again.
Finally, here are
my stats from the race. Not too shabby
at all for a race I half-assed.
Overall: 2822/8107 (top 1/3)
Division: 195/863 (top 1/4)
Female: 1056/4722 (top 1/4)
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