Fall Classic half marathon, 2010

Cute finishers medal, huh?  Leaves and acorns, just right for fall.

I went into this race with no expectations.  The last time I did a half was probably 10 years ago!  My time back then was 1:47, but I knew I wasn’t in shape to do anything near that today.  So with advice from Coach E not to go out too fast, I decided anywhere from 8:20/mile to 9:00/mile would be just right.  Sort of a marathon pace workout, although even that would be a stretch, since I had only been back to real training for 3 weeks, and had only done 2  10 milers as my long runs!

This race is in one of the Metroparks, and the parking was 1/4 mile away from the registration and start.  I got a late start to the race, and left everything in the car to run and get my number, then went back to the car, and then ran back again just in time for the start.  Oops – portapotty lines were way too long, I think all the 5k people were in line, so I decided to forget it and just stay at the start and look for Jodi.  Well, I didn’t see her at all, there were so many people!  We were lined up on this narrow park road.  After a long time waiting ( I would have had time to cut in the portapotty line!) we finally started.

I quickly realized I really had to go.  Really bad.  Luckily around the mile and half mark we made a jog into the parking lot of a Chalet park building, and I asked if there was a bathroom.  Yes!  I ran for it, did my business, and got out as fast as I could, ( of course forgetting to turn off the Garmin – it did auto pause, but not right away, I think I ran 50 yards to the bathroom, and 50 yards back because for the rest of the race my Garmin kept beeping the mile 100 yards ahead of all the markers).  but I still lost about 2 minutes.  At least I felt a lot better.

With all that going on I didn’t start fast, which was just the plan.  My first mile was 8:40.  I kept right around that for the next few miles, 8:31, 8:40, 8:45.  Then I started feeling better, ( or maybe there was a slight downhill!) because the next miles were 8:22, 8:36.  Around mile 7 I decided to break out the sport beans – they were yummy, but cold and hard to chew!  I ended up putting a few in my mouth at a time, and kind of sucking/chewing on them.  I felt like a chipmunk!  It was still chilly, and every once in a while there was a strong, cold wind, so even though I had on shorts, I was glad I kept my jacket on.  This is a double loop course, so we got to the turn around, then headed back towards the start.  8:49, 8:48, 9:02, 9:21.  ( stopped to drink water, I still can’t run and drink without it going up my nose!) 8:57, 8:57 ( mile 11, yay!) then 9:05, and Garmin had me at 1:44 for the last .2 (!)(I think part of that was from the portapotty stop at the beginning. I guess I should hit the split button instead of letting it figure out the miles by itself.

I waited around for Jodi and her friend Jenn, and they finished nice and strong despite Jenn just recovering from the flu and waking up with a nasty cold that morning!  It was fun to see them on the course too when we passed each other on the different loops – actually, Jodi, if you read this, it really gave me something to look forward too, especially the last time we saw each other!  I’m happy that I was able to pick it back up after that 9:21 mile, because I thought I was starting to lose it at that point.  So nowhere near a PR, but still a satisfying race.

Edited to Add:  official results are up – they have me at 1:56:46, 12th in AG.