13.1 Atlanta Half Marathon

Well, that went well!!

As I think I mentioned in my last post, I was using this race to get ready for my marathon. No expectations, no pressure - I just wanted a race experience at distance - distance being 20 miles since I was adding a seven mile run to the front of it.

First, the start/finish line was at Oglethorpe University. Since I was running to the start, I wanted to leave my car there overnight - because I was NOT running back home afterward. I know at my illustrious university in the north part of Florida, say - around the Gainesville area, that would have taken an act of Congress - and it still would have gotten towed. I figured I'd give it a shot, and called security there. Wow. The woman who answered was unbelievably helpful and told me where she was pretty sure I should park. She wasn't positive, so she told me to call her again when I was on my way over and she would make sure I was in the right area. Worked out perfectly - major kudos to the host site - specifically one woman whose name I unfortunately didn't get.

Anyway, I planned on doing a 10/mile pace for the 7 miles in, keeping it nice and easy. That part of the run went really well and I timed it perfectly. I hit the starting area so that I had 3-5 minutes before it started. Just enough time to make sure I was in the right area for my pace and go. Can't say much about the facilities at the start since I wasn't there that long, but the directional signs were nice and easy to follow for bag check (which I didn't use), parking etc.

The start was a rolling start by your estimated pace, which was nice. Easy to hear the directions and what was going on. But this was definitely my one complaint about the race. It was a tight start, which is not a big deal. I started shuffling forward, then it opened up right before the starting line, which is perfect since the race was chip-timed. So I crossed the starting line and began to run...and stopped. Dead stop. And then we shuffled forward through a nice little bottleneck and stayed tight for a little bit before it finally began to ease. So I ran the first mile a full minute slower than the rest of the race (and even slower than I ran the 7 in). Oh well.

After that, I loved the race. It was a a nice scenic course, and really well managed. Crowd support was a little sparse, but everyone who did come out was loud, and encouraging. The volunteers were just fantastic. Full of energy, cheering, encouraging, giving direction in nice loud voices...great.

I felt great through the race - - kept about a 9:15 pace though 11 miles (or actually 18 miles, but who's counting?) and then increased to an 8:30 for mile 12 and a 7:40 'til the end!! Please let this be a precursor to the marathon.......

Great Expectations

Unlike Dickens, I apparently do not have enough of a drive to write....

With this blog being primarily about my running, I would have wished that I would have had a lot to say as I swung into the meat of my schedule, hitting an 18, a 20!, and then another 20 mile long run since the last time I wrote. Perhaps . . . I was too busy running . . .?? Sure, that works.

So, with a combination of run log and memory, I'' retrace the route a little bit. I did my 18 miler with CRR and had a pretty tough one around the Emory campus. I was completely wrung out as I staggered in the final mile. That was a little discouraging after feeling so good at the end of the 17 mile last weekend. The flip side is that I DID a 17 mile run last weekend I guess. That said, by the afternoon I felt good enough to climb Stone Mountain with my family. That got the ego pumping again.

The step back week was much needed and I worked my way back to a 20 miler. Yes, 20, TWENTY miler! That was an amazing feeling of accomplishment, especially since I did it on my own. And did I mention it was raining for the entire 20 miles? I didn't? Oh, well, it was raining for the entire 20 miles. There's something about being out running at the crack of dawn in the rain that either builds character or proves you're somewhat nuts. I'm a nut with character. The rain actually helped to some extent. I stayed cool and somehow didn't feel as worn as I would have with sweat dripping down my face. That said, I'd prefer a dry race day....

I do think that watching the puddles, the mud (really wanted to avoid blisters from soaked shoes), and the traffic extra carefully slowed me down. I put up a slower time than I was expecting, especially since this was another run that felt pretty good. I can't say I was ready to dance a jig at the end of it, but I wasn't dragging like I was after the 18 either. As before, I didn't really watch my pace through the run - I just seem to do better feeling it out as I go. It didn't work for me this time - I was about 15-25 sec/mile slower than I would have guessed. Lesson - if something is radically different about the run, watch my pace more.... Still though, hitting 20 (.05!) was a huge monkey off of the back. It's just a 10K after that....

The down week was a downer. I don't know what it was, but all of sudden, I was getting tired of it. I wanted a break, I wanted the training to end, I wanted to back off the 'have to run' feeling all the time. 18 weeks is a long time....

I'm experimenting with gels and hydration with my long runs and I think I have it down. Going to stick with the gel every 45 min, NOT carry water, but hit every H2O stop, and add in Gatorade on the back half.

And I'll test it out this coming week - I've decided I'm running the 13.1 Atlanta as a training run. Not tapering - I'm sticking with my schedule - and I'm going to run the 7 miles to the start and go right into the race if I time it right. My plan is to go nice and slow - 10/ml for the 7 miles and then try to keep a 9:45 pace through the race. Ah, the title of this little excerpt. I have whole-heartedly scrapped my plans for a sub 4 marathon as I realize just how optimistic that would be. Beating my half marathon time - on both sides of the marathon - realistically isn't going to happen. My current plan is a 9:30 pace for the whole thing, which is still pushing it a good bit. I want this to be a training run, not a race, hence the 15 sec/mile slower than my planned pace. We'll see how it goes.