When I finished "The Middle Half" in '07, I laid down on the grass next to the track with a cold rag on my head thinking I was going to die at the same place where I graduated college. Finish time that year was a disappointing 2:02:59 due to the horrid heat that year. This year the weather was great but......
The confusion started at mile 2 and it continued with each mile marker.
First off, we did a .55 warm up, which got me warm enough to where I wasn't shivering with Kim, Michael, & Joe when we stood in the crowd waiting to start. My stomach was giving me issues so I knew I would have to really get comfortable & like I said in the previous post, just run as well as I feel....
Shortly after we took off, I found Chad O. We hung together until about mile 3. When we saw the 2 mile marker we were like, "WTH?" "My garmin reads 2:48!" The people around us starting going a little nuts. This was pretty consistant the rest of the race. .48 off but I don't run perfect tangents (nobody does) so when I came across the finish line my garmin read 13.62. I think the "official" results said I finished 2:04:04 but whateva. I looked at my garmin right as I was hitting the 13.1 mark & it said 1:59:10. So, I know I went sub 2 which hasn't happened since WELL BEFORE the tibia stress fracture ever happened. Overall, I'm ok with the race. It's like 99% flat. We ran it in reverse from what I remember in '07. There were some baby hills the first first miles but nothing like what I've been running all summer/fall long. Even though I felt the urge to push early on, I kept it in check, ran relaxed as I could, etc... After we finished, got water, chit chatted with Paul & Jessie, we added another 2 VERY slow miles. Overall for the day something like 16.17 miles.
Apparently, a policeman blocked off the wrong road early on but corrected it for the slower runners. The results have to be majorly jacked up because of this....he should have just left it as is in my opinion then EVERYONE would have run the same course. The police appologized for the incident & well, it is what it is...but I bet it never happens again in this race. ha!
Joe was going for a PR even though he had said the night before he was going to take it easy. Turns out he got more rest than I did & felt better than me so he went for it. Per his garmin, he did 1:44:01, per "official" race results he was 1:47: something. He's happy with it but he wanted the 1:44:01 to be in the RESULTS. It's a runner thing & if you aren't about PRs then you'll never understand. I knew I didn't stand a snowballs chance in hell beating my 1/2 PR of 1:51:25 but going sub 2 hrs for the first time in a long time would have been great in the actual results. ha!
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for all the volunteers & truly grateful for the police who help block off the roads. It was just a break down in communication. It happens....and what great weather we had! The sun stayed in for the most part until we finished. We got to cheer cousin in law, Trisha into the finish & saw Scott & Kelli A. from the NRC. Great that they came to cheer everyone!
Nice catching up with everyone including Wayne, Chad, Paul, Jessie, Trisha, Kim, Michael, etc... Plus lunch with our favorite couple, Hannah & Jeff. Great day all around.
13.62 miles: 2:04:04 (13.1 miles 1:59:10 per garmin) Plus .55 warm up, Plus 2 cool down = 16.17 miles for the day
I'm too lazy to post mile splits but most of them were around a 9:00 minute pace or faster. I did slow down the last 3 miles due to my left hip giving me fits. The ugly bursa tissue reared it's head. LOTS of hip stretching/strengthening in my immediate future! If I can just find someone to put their elbow in my left hip around mile 13-14 in New York City, I'll be ok. ;-P I've come to the conclusion that if my wheels start falling off in the marathon it will be because of my left hip. Everything else is holding together fine. The tendonitis in the left ankle wasn't even worth giving much attention to yesterday. I feel ok overall.
Today: I just did 4.25 recovery miles at a 9:46 pace & TONS of stretching!
Goal: Get Faster!
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