Rock N Roll Half Marathon

It took me a couple days, but I finally figured out why I was disappointed with my run on Sunday.  I truly believe I ran the best race I could have on that particular day.  It’s the knowing I can do better that is eating at me days later.  I have to keep reminding myself that my time was perfectly respectable, faster actually than I anticipated.  And I finished in the top 20% of my age group and females and the top third of all 11,000+ participants.  But it’s the knowing I can do better that makes me glad I’m only 6 weeks out from my next half marathon. 

The course was more challenging than I anticipated.  While the net elevation change was only 50 feet, the entire course was hilly.  Now anyone who has been to Portland knows the town is built on a hill, but it was the constant up and down that got to me.  More so the up than down.  The up sections were filled with lots of f-bombs going through my head.  The downs with sincere thanks to God.

Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most about the race was the road support from complete strangers.  The entire 13.1 mile course was lined with people cheering for the runners.  People out to breakfast on Hawthorne sat outside cheering while drinking their coffee and eating their pancakes.  Little kids stood in the rain trying to get high-fives.  One man stood at the end of his driveway playing the banjo on a particularly steep uphill climb.  Of all the races I’ve done this one by far had the most people cheering.  As someone who does the entire race alone and doesn’t come with my own cheering squad, it’s nice to have strangers lining the course cheering you up a hill.

The hardest part for me wasn’t getting through 13 miles.  It was the fact that I felt tired starting at mile three.  My legs and lungs were fine, but my body and mind were tired.  Typically at the 10 mile marker I start to pick up the pace.  At that point, there is only a 5k left and it’s time to get moving.  At mile 12 I was completely shot.  Everyone like to race into the finish, but I was done.  Instead of going balls out the last mile like everyone else, I was hanging on for dear life.  Instead of sprinting into the finish, I was telling myself you can’t walk into the finish with all these people watching.  Instead of finishing strong, I felt beat to hell.  Never before have I had absolutely zero kick at the end of a race.  My mind wanted to go faster.  My body gave my brain a giant middle finger.

So what was the problem?  Probably a combination of things.  First of all I shouldn’t expect to be at peak racing performance after only 3 months of running after having taken the previous six months off.  I also think nutrition played a big part.  Somehow I had just enough calories to run but not as many as I need to race.  At least not the way I would like. 

I have to keep reminding myself how far I’ve come.  No, I didn’t PR, but I ran a solid race, quicker than I anticipated and best of all, I’m not broken.  I have the usual post-race aches and pains but not the debilitating injuries I’m used to having after training of this sort. 

Right now I’m really glad I signed up for another half.  With another 100 miles of training under my belt and some dietary revisions, I’m excited to see what is possible in Missoula in six weeks.