I know I haven't posted on this blog in just about forever, but shakenmama suggested that I might put my race reports on here and that sounded like a good idea. If I don't write the infor down right away I just forget it, but when I do write it down I find it really helpful to refer back to. With that in mind early in December I ran this:
http://www2.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge/content/guides/sca_HalfMarathon-ParticipantGuide.pdf
If you go to page 6 you can see the elevation change. It was "fun". It was very very cold at the start, but I was a good racer and warmed up for a mile or so before we began and that helped. So anyway, when the race went off and I had absolutely zero expectations. There were some very fast, very trail-accomplished looking women out there, and I was super afraid of not having enough oomph to make it to the end. I have had a bunch of gait issues for the past few weeks and while they are better on the trails and had been better in general for the past few days I didn't know what to expect.
Mile one: 6:32. This was a lot of downhill and mostly on pavement. I was in second for the bulk of it, behind some hard core lady on La Sportiva, but she was running a little too slowly for a bit of the road portion so I was in first foe like a whole 200 meters!
Mile two: 8:34. Up we go! First hill, and it was long. I ran as much as I could, but when I get to the point of endless redline I let myself walk 20 steps and run 50 steps. This seems to help me stay in touch with people around me, not die, and making a rule that I can only walk 20 steps at a time keeps forcing me back to running. (But I do want to work on the trail uphill stuff...). By now La Sportiva lady has faded back into the background, never to be seen again, and has been replaced by this little 23 year old with strange hair who passed me and then ran defensively for the rest of the race up in front...every time I got near to her she would speed up, and if she took a walking break up the hills it only lasted until I got too close. At first I thought this would work in my favor, but then she just kept staying out in front of me!
Mile three: 8:48. Still going up. 23 year old is getting farther away. I decide to run my own race...I am pretty excited to be in second and I will be elated to finish in the top three!
Mile four: 6:11. Back down! Thank God that first hill is over. Only two more to go. I have definitely improved my downhill skills, but not enough to gain on anyone in front of me!
Mile five: 6:40. On the flats. The flat sections were SO hard, and I had to adjust my shoe laces here for the first of 4 or 5 times (I love my trail shoes, but they stretch a lot during a run and I have no choice but to adjust them at times.) As hard as the flats were physically I was pretty pleased that I was able to keep pushing on them. Took my first gu in here.
Mile six: 10:45. Oh My God. This hill was insane. Just ridiculous. It was so steep and every time I thought it was over I would turn a corner and there would be more. 23 year old got farther and farther away and I just wanted to lie down next to the trail and quit at times. But I didn't!
Mile seven: 8:59. Still uphill, but not as steep. Very glad to be halfway done, but I couldn't wait to get this second hill the hell over with.
Mile eight: 6:30. Ahhhh, back downhill. Of course, this descent was the most gravelly and the steepest, and even though I am better downhill I am still a wimp.
Mile nine: 11:09. Right back uphill, no reprieve. This hill was the least steep but by now I was absolutely exhausted. At the beginning of this mile was the second water stop and I stopped and drank two cups of gatorade. Good idea. It was at this point that I started to think the course might be a bit long, because the water stop was supposed to be at 7.5 and it was at 8.1. Humph. And I could see the third place woman behind me.
Mile ten: 8:10. The hill got better, and there were some flats. But I was still tired. The third place woman faded a bit, and the first place girl was still waaayyy out in front of me. I knew the climbing was almost done and I was just focused on getting to the end of the last uphill.
Mile eleven: 8:13. Last bit of uphill and finally the third water stop right at the mile mark. It was supposed to be at 10.5 but it was right at 11. I stopped to take my second gu and drink some gatorade but then....
Mile twelve: 6:05. While I was standing in the water stop my friend Jenny came barrelling through, leading the 10k. I threw my half eaten gu and gatorade aside and took off after her, thinking that it would be much more fun to run downhill with her. I chased and chased her all the way down the hill!
Mile thirteen: 5:46 :) I do best at the gentler downhill at the bottom of a slope and it was at that point that I finally caught Jenny. And then when I looked up I saw that little miss 23 year old was only about 100 meters ahead of me! I did myregular negative self talk and then I decided to go for it. I tried to not push so hard to get to her that I killed myself and finally passed her at 12.7. I thought she would go with me but she didn't. I just pushed and pushed. And then I hit mile 13....and realized that I was NOWHERE near the finish. I had at least .75 miles to go! So I hit 13 in 1:42:30 and was totally spent. I still had the hill that we ran down at the beginning of the race to go back up. I was really bummed because I figured that as I tanked the girl behind me would come back. But I had to slow down and actually had to walk (just a little bit) a few times. But I managed to keep telling me that I could win this and that I did deserve to.
Mile 13 to 13.83: 5:42. Pure suffering. About halfway through this I heard a woman come up behind me...but it was Jenny. I latched onto her and sat in as best I could. In the end she got to the finish line about 10 seconds ahead of me, first woman in the 10k, but goddamnit, I WON the half marathon! I ran 1:48:13 for 13.83 miles and beat the second place girl by almost a minute over that last mile. I really do not think I have ever been more excited to win a race purely because I won it more because of mental strength than anything else, and as we all know that is something that I tend to be lacking in :) I was like a giddy teenager afterwards, so so happy.