Hilly Half Marathon

I can’t believe that I’ve neglected this blog for 4 years! I think there are two reasons: I don’t know how to top a race report for a 50-mile event and I have struggled with my running routine to the point where I continually debate whether it’s time to hang up the running shoes. Since I’m too stubborn to admit defeat, I keep plugging along with races. My current training strategy needs work. It’s basically summarized by: sign up for a race, neglect to do the bare minimum of running, and show up for race day. It’s not the most effective strategy. I do have one ace in my pocket though: I’ve been doing CrossFit for 6 months.  Today was a chance to see how much it would carry me. Turns out, a good bit!

The Hilly Half is a road race (ick) but is held in beautiful Brown County State Park (yay!). It’s not comparable my beloved trail running but at least it’s surrounded by some of the most beautiful terrain that you can find in Indiana. On a whim, I signed up. Then didn’t do a single training run all fall except for a September 30 trail 10k and the occasional 400m run at CrossFit. Oops. In my defense, I did do a good bit of hiking, backpacking, and consistently worked out 5 days a week at the gym.  I wasn’t just sitting on my bum eating Oreos all month. Just once or twice.

Pre-race: Friday morning we did a “heavy deadlift” workout at CrossFit. I love deadlifts and even with a race looming, didn’t want to miss it! (Are you starting to see where my head is these days?) Then I spent 8 hours helping crew a couple of amazing friends on their charity run across the state of Indiana. Neither one of these activities jives with my usual pre-race agenda of staying off of the legs and resting up before the big day. In other words, I looked at this race as a fun run and I definitely had no plan to race it. I stuck to that plan.

Race day: it’s freaking cold. There is snow on the ground. Why????? Deep breath and throw the covers off, time to get the coffee brewing.  Did I mention it was cold? I dressed in as many layers as I could (ok, it was actually only 3) and got to the park for packet pick-up with barely time to spare.

The race starts with a long uphill that climbs relentlessly for the first 2 miles. That’s one way to be sure I don’t start too fast.  After that 2-mile climb, we stayed fairly level with constant smaller rolling hills. Since it’s an out and back course, I was already anticipating a fun downhill finish!  As I warmed up, I started peeling off the layers: first the sunglasses that kept fogging, then the fleece buff, and then the jacket.

I ran the first 5 miles in a state of bliss. It was a gorgeous day, I was in a beautiful park, and my legs were moving smoothly.  The fall leaves contrasted against the snow created a stunning landscape.  Brown County State Park offers many scenic overlooks but my phone was frozen by the time I got to them. I took this picture of the snowy fence, my phone gave a feeble <bzzzt> and then fell victim to a hypothermic battery.  Well, so much for music to keep me company!

Once I lost the distraction of my playlist, I spent my time thinking. That can be good or bad. Today, it worked against me. It didn’t help that 7 miles in, my Garmin decided to nap with my iPhone. It was still recording but the display was obscured by a big black LOW BATTERY warning. For better or worse, I couldn’t electronically monitor my progress. I hadn’t been monitoring it anyway and was running off of perceived effort. Somehow knowing that I COULDN’T check in with it just threw my mind into a negative spiral. I convinced myself I was too tired, that my pace had dropped off considerably, and that this was the dumbest dumb idea I'd ever dumbed. All of the negative ways I talk to myself came out during miles 7-10. I wasn’t being very good to myself. The energy gel didn’t give the boost I wanted. Runners were starting to pass me and I couldn’t catch them. I was mentally in a bad place. (Once I uploaded my Garmin data, I found that I ran about a minute slower during this section.  I'd have sworn it was so much worse. A reminder to work on my mental training, too.)

Fortunately for me, the course started to trend downhill.  I like running downhill.  Shoot, I LOVE it!  I consider it one of my strengths as a runner. I’m one of the lucky ones who doesn’t get knee pain on downhills and it’s just EASIER than uphill. Thank god this race ends with a loooong downhill stretch. I started picking things up a notch, it felt good so I pushed a little more. Then I started passing the runners who had passed me. It felt so good to be moving downhill that I just kept nudging my pace a little more. I passed at least 4 runners in my last mile and then was determined not to let them have a chance to catch me. I spotted my friend Erin about a half mile from the finish. She was hiking a trail paralleling the road and gave me an enthusiastic cheer. Nothing like finding your very own cheerleader right before the home stretch to give you the boost for a final kick.

I didn’t score a PR but I’m also not sure how to compare this to my usual races. It had more elevation (742') than your average road race but didn’t have the technical surface of a trail run. I’m calling the day a success for a few reasons.

1. I scraped my ego and brain game back together in time to put forth a solid effort at the end.
2. My finish time today was over 10 minutes faster than my time at the Carmel Half this past spring. Carmel is known for being a fast course so this is significant.
3. I had fun.
4. I do like running.
5. I love race day.
6. I’m still a runner. 💜