So after finishing the Mag7k, grabbing some post-race munchies (Avers Pizza...yummm...), and getting my back taped up, it was time to head east. We cut it pretty close. By the time we got to the convention center, the expo was over and we had 20 minutes before packet pick-up was over. No problem--it took me just a minute to get my shirt, bib, and chip and I was done. I absolutely LOVE the shirt and the poster! I think I'm going to get a frame for the poster, if I get it back, that is. More on that later.
It was still early in the day (just after 4:00), so we went across the river into Covington to get checked into the hotel and then out for dinner. We debated catching a movie, but decided that we were both content with just having a quiet evening of watching basketball so I could get to sleep early. I managed to sleep through almost all the ballgame that kept Aaron up until almost midnight--I was obviously tired!
I didn't sleep well at all after about 2 am though. I'm always afraid of oversleeping on race days, so I set 2 alarms. I still thought I'd oversleep: either I'd set them for p.m. instead of a.m. (not that I've ever done that...ha...) or that I'd turn them off in my sleep. So, I kept waking up, double checking the time, triple checking the alarms, then back to sleep. *sigh* Finally, at 5:15, the alarms went off for real and the first thing that I did was check the radar. I'd been weather stalking every hour until I went to sleep and when I turned in for the night, it was calling for 10% chance of rain. I was horrified to see this when I checked in the morning:
Well, nuts. When I ran the Flying Pig last year, it rained, so this won't be my first rainy half marathon. I didn't have a garbage bag to wear, but at least I had my visor to keep the rain out of my eyes. Suck it up, princess, you won't melt. I got dressed, packed my spibelt, and choked down most of a mini-bagel. It would have been nice if I'd been able to eat more, but it just wasn't going down. The temperature was going to be about 40-42 for the race, a little chillier than I'd expected but I didn't think it'd pose a problem. I was wearing capris, a short-sleeved tech tee underlayer with a cotten short-sleeve over it, and arm warmers. I had a throw-away flannel long-sleeve that would keep me warm until the race started, hopefully it would keep me mostly dry, too. My worry was that I'd get wet and chilled before we even started, then it would be a battle to get warm again.
Aaron surprised me by deciding to walk me to the start in spite of the rain! That was a pleasant treat, usually I trek over the bridge into Cincy on my own on these race mornings. The company was much appreciated. Once we got to the staging area, I wanted to hit the port-o-let one last time, but the line was crazy long. I convinced Aaron that he really wanted a bagel from the coffee shop and I took advantage of his customer status to use their facilities. That saved me a good 20 minutes of standing in line AND it was warm/dry in there! It was just drizzling rain at that point, but still not something that I wanted to be in any longer than necessary.
The race was to start at 8 and I made it back to the staging area at 7:55. Aaron came with me and I started shuffling with the rest of the crowd. Once the gun went off, I handed him my "throw-away" and got a good luck kiss from him. He said he'd try to meet me at the finish, then I was moving. It wasn't until right before we got to the start line itself that I realized I was positioned with the 12:37 pace group. Eh, no biggie, hopefully it would help me to start slow.
I had decided that I didn't want to fixate on the Garmin and its paces for this race. I wanted to treat this as a long run, not as a race. I worried that if I was getting constant feedback on pace, it might lead me to push too hard too early. What I learned was that I'm not very good at judging effort: I started out too fast because it did feel very easy.
This was the first year for the half marathon at this race. The HM runners started with the 15k runners and we were going to run together for the first 8 miles. The start was at Fountain Square and we went east on Columbia Parkeway along the river. There were a couple significant hills along there and what wasn't hilly was rolling. The first mile though, was very nicely flat. I was running easy, just a gentle warm-up and I was aiming for a 10:40-11:00 pace. I could see the 11:30 pacer just in front of me, so I figured I was probably ok. I was surprised at the first mile marker when I was right at 10:40, I thought I was running slower than that! Since my warm-up usually takes about 2 miles, I knew I'd have to really focus on keeping my pace super-easy for the first few miles or I'd overshoot that pace significantly and run into trouble later. As I finished the first mile, the drizzle had let up and it was just overcast. It wasn't much after that when I took off the visor and fastened it to the spibelt.
As we finished up the first mile, we had gone through the first of the uphill segment. Starting the second mile, was a nice long downhill. At first, that's a relief. Then, you remember that the 15k course is an out-and-back. We'll be running this sucker uphill on the way back in. Ugghhh... Hit the bottom of that hill and back up we go. Mile two was all either that downhill or the uphill after it, not a flat stretch in it! So why did I run it in 10:36?? Crap, better try to slow down...got a long way to go! The 11:30 pacer was still in front of me, I'm glad that I wasn't relying on him to pace ME! Unfortunately, the next mile was mostly flat to downhill. My own pacing failed miserably and I ran that mile in 10:13. (Keep in mind my half marathon PR was an average 10:01 pace, so now I'm nearing race pace which I'm NOT ready for!!)
I think it was just after the 3 mile marker that I heard a bunch of cheering and wondered who all the spectators were. Then I noticed a car coming the opposite direction, horn blaring (accident? injury??). After it passed, I noticed the flashing lights of the police motorcycle escort--it's the leaders on their way back in! The wave of cheering that followed their progress was fantastic! We all cheered loudly for the first 4 or 5 as they passed, then we settled back into our own races until the lead woman passed by and we cheered her on, too. It didn't take long then for it to become a steady stream of runners and I tried not to think about them. "They've already hit the turnaround. Grrr...how much farther is it??" Mile 4 done in 10:28.
We turnaround at about the 4.5 mile point, more cheering, a short-lived pick-me-up. I knew that there was going to be a dog-leg on the course on the way back but hadn't checked it out as we went by. I didn't want to know, to be honest. I knew it was in the opposite direction as the river and that meant uphill. Around this point, I took off my arm warmers and pinned them to my belt. I'm glad that it's not raining anymore but even more happy that it's overcast. In spite of it being 40 degrees, I'm definitely warmed up. It's actually perfect running weather: cool enough that I'm not overheating, but not so cold that I need to bundle up. Mile 5 done in 10:32. I'm holding my pace, but it's still faster than my usual long run pace. I worry about that. If this were a shorter run, no problem but can I hold this for 13 miles this early in the year, especially since I'm still rebuilding? The mental game is starting.
Just before we get to the 6 mile marker, we hit the dogleg and oh.my.god. is it a hill. We're talking Winslow Hill material but longer. I'm walking and I don't even care! I know that I can walk this hill at least as fast as I can run it. A woman passes me at a slow jog and she's singing "99 bottles of beer on the wall". I laugh and tell her that she's got the right attitude! She keeps singing and trucks on ahead. I use the opportunity to start on a gel, I think that there's water at the 6-mile mark. As soon as I hit the top of the hill, I move back into my run and pass most of the folks who passed me on the uphill. As we move back to levelish ground on Columbia, a man passes me and says "Was that hill supposed to be some kind of a cruel joke or what?", we laugh over the cruely of it and get back to business. Mile 6 in 11:29.
I keep looking for water at this point since I've taken in about half of my gel packet and had ditched the handheld bottle that I brought with me. I don't want to finish the gel and have no water, but there's no water in sight. Oh, yeah...I remember as we pass the empty folding tables that the map DID say the 10k water stop was ONLY for the 10k walkers that would be coming through in a couple of hours. *sob* I just wanted to take my gel to relieve the fatigue that was starting, if I don't have water with the gel, I'm courting GI disaster. Ok, save the rest of the gel until the water is available. Mile 7 in 10:39.
My mind starts to check out at this point. I know that we're soon going to have the 15k split from the half course. I start questioning my decision to run the half. I'm not ready, I've been running too fast for my conditioning, what if my back starts hurting, a multitude of excuses why I should follow the 15k'ers. This is the worst part of the whole race: the decision of whether to stick to the half or cut it short. Mile 8 in 11:01.
I continue to debate what to do. I'm walking a lot, granted, there's that bugger of a hill to climb up, but still...I know it's a mental battle right now and I also know that I'm letting it get the better of me. Why should I back off of a training run? I knew from the get-go that I wasn't racing this, not aiming for a PR. Even if I do walk the rest of the course, I need to see this through. At mile 8.6, they start moving the half runners to the right lane. I move over. Ok, that's good, I'm physically going the right direction. At mile 8.7, we split off for real. Almost immediately, my mood starts to move in the right direction, too. At this point, we're taking a ramp on the interstate, first down, then steeply back up. Ugh, I do walk that uphill part (oh, my right foot is starting to really hurt...that's new...) but then back to my run. I finish mile 9 with a 11:40 overall pace. That'll prove to be my slowest mile of the day.
We zig-zag a bit through downtown Cincinnati as they move us to the road that'll get us to the bridge over the river into Newport. That part's mostly a blur other than the part where we're passing the half marathoners that are coming back in to the finish. Lucky punks. The other thing that I remember is seeing a bunch of trash cans but there was no water stop. Huh, there are dozens of GU packets all over the place though. Apparently it was a GU stop and they ran out before I got there. Fantastic. Not that I wanted one (I still had my own and actually never used any other than that first one), but if I'd wanted one it should have been there. Hmmph. As I pass the smiling young man at the 10 mile marker, I raise my hands over my head and yell "Only 3 more miles to go!" Yes, I'm genuinely thrilled by that! He sends me on my way with a "good job, way to go" and I finish the 10th mile in 10:36.
At this point, the runners have really thinned out. I actually worry that I might lose sight of the runner I'm following at a turn, but it's very well marked and the runner isn't THAT far ahead. This is the first half that I've run where the crowd got so spaced. We approach the Purple People Bridge to cross the Ohio and enter Newport. The bridge is pretty interesting. Apparently it used to carry traffic but now is strictly pedestrian (and purple), it's almost park-like with benches and potted plants. I'm a little bit disgusted though that 15k'ers and half marathoners who are done are using it for their cool-down. I know it's not meant to be discouraging, but at that point, I really didn't want to be reminded that a lot of folks had finished an hour ago. Mile 11 in 10:45.
I'm actually enjoying this part of the run, it's starting to drizzle a bit again but that doesn't bother me. My hands are incredibly cold and stiff though, every so often I try to warm them by tucking them in my armpits. It's too hard to run that way though, so it doesn't last long. It doesn't work anyway. I consider putting the arm warmers back on, it's starting to get chilly again. I'm so close to being done that I don't bother. The course takes us by and around the Newport on the Levee shopping area and then down along the riverwalk. It's really nice here and I'll have to remember this for running in the future. I'm not being passed at all now, I feel pretty good but I see other runners really starting to fade. We head back across the bridge to Cincinnati again, I walk the uphill on the bridge and finish mile 12 with an 11:12 pace.
Now the rain really kicks in. Ugh. I'm glad that it wasn't like this the whole race but wish that it could have held off a bit longer. I was already dealing with cold hands (why didn't I bring gloves??), now that I was wet I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the arm warmers on to warm them. It was nice to run through underpasses because at least it was a brief respite from the rain. Hurry up and finish though, then you can warm up again. Strangely, I can't remember much from this point (uphill? downhill?) other than seeing the rain. I didn't put the visor back on because my hands weren't working well and I didn't want to be fumbling with the belt to get it off. Just finish, almost done. Mile 13 in 11:01.
As I approach the finish line, I'm hearing the final strains of the national anthem and I realize that the 5k must be getting ready to start. The 5k'ers are staged in the facing lanes of traffic at the finish line and the national anthem ends just before I hit the finish line. I must say, it's pretty freaking awesome to have a couple thousand runners cheering you in at the finish!! Yeah, they were probably cheering for the anthem, but I think a few of them were cheering for me. ;) I managed that last 0.1 at a sub-9 pace but I forgot to turn off the Garmin so that's all that I know.
I finished the course with an official time of 2:21:57 for an overall pace of 10:51. I was 1359/1674, 66/100 in my division. Aaron met me at the finish with my throw-away flannel, I was so glad to see him bring it!! He had to button me into it though because my hands were numb and I couldn't work the buttons. The only post-race refreshments that sounded good were the orange slices and the chocolate being passed out by the angel from Ghirardelli. Oh, my, that was the BEST chocolate EVER! I heard that there was coffee but I couldn't find it, probably wouldn't have set well anyway. I scored a goetta sandwich for Aaron. *gag* Even if I liked that stuff, I don't think I'd want to eat it after a race. He liked it though. :)
Now that I've had a couple of days to rehash things, I'm really really happy with how I did. I wasn't planning to do this run until about 2 weeks ago, I didn't have the proper training plan to be ready this soon, yet I still managed my best Cincinnati half marathon time. This course is good prep for the Flying Pig (more rolling hills in this one, I think) and I beat my Flying Pig times from both 2009 and 2010. It does excite me to think about what to expect after another month of training for this year's Flying Pig, not to mention the IU Mini. It's good to see all of the pieces coming together. After last summer/fall off of running, it's about time!
Oh, and that poster that I love so much? I left it in the hotel room. Gah! I realized it an hour after we checked out as we were on our way home. I called, they hadn't cleaned our room yet, and it should be on its way to me in the mail. Fingers crossed that it gets to me in frameable condition!
Now, for some much needed recovery time.
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