Well as some of you know i am training for TCM (twin cities marathon). As part of my training i wanted to run longer and longer races leading up to the big one. I started with a 8k, then moved up to a 10k. This weekend was the half marathon. This will likely be my last long race till the big one.
My training has been going well for TCM. I did miss a long run last weekend due to lack of sleep. But i am thinking my body needed the time off..... OK so now for the RR.
**short story**(if you don't want to read the whole thing) woke up at 4:45am left house at 5:50 got to race about 6:20. picked up my packet shirt and goody bag. Did about a half mile warm up. Moved over to starting line. Ran race. Finished race in 1:34:08. went home.
long story.
OK i woke up about 3 times in the night and didn't really sleep to well. When i got up it it was right to the bathroom. Gotta love those jitters. I had a small breakfast of a banana and a billy bar with some Gatorade. Thing seamed to settle down after that. My ride showed up a little before 6 just as planed. The ride to the race was good. We talked running and training. When we got to the race we had to pick up our packets. That went really fast. The shirts were nice and my mine was needed later but will go into more detail further into the report. :-)
So after we got our packet and got our chips and and bibs all hooked up i headed over to the block long line for the porta pots. The line moved really fast cause they had about 15 of them. But there was also over 1100 runners in the half so they could have had more porta pots. After the quick bathroom break we did some warming up as the temp was still around 65*. Half way into the warm up my Timex lost its singal but was hooked back up and rockin by the end of the warm up. Then it was off to the start line.
It was one massive load of people waiting at the timing mats. I made sure i got pretty close to the front cause i wanted to run a good time. I ran in to a forumite that i met at my first half marathon. I was sorta hoping to have someone to run with but his goal was about 5 mins faster than mine so i didn't want to push it that much. When the horn sounded I took off but at a much better pace than my other races. The first 1/4 mile was about a 7:30 pace and that was about perfect. I did get passed by a few runners but i didn't let that get in my head. normal when someone passes me i want to pass them right back but i needed to run MY RACE.
I saw the first water stop but i didn't take any. It normal ends up all over me anyways but with the sprinkler some of the locals has set up on the route i knew i would be OK. After the first water stop the route sent us on to a great little dirt and gravel path threw the woods. I will tell you my legs love that later in the race. The only trouble with that path was how narrow it was. If i would have been with a large group of runners i could see how it would get clogged up threw that area. I was feeling great most of the way but i kept second guessing my pace wondering if i should slow down or speed up. After double checking my average pace on my watch i figured i was just fine. I kept on hammering out the miles at about a 7:20 pace.
Once i headed past water stop two(didn't take any again) i started to speed up a bit. **TMI warning** Right before the 10k split i saw what looked to be someone breakfast. At least they were nice enough to pull over to the grass before they let it go.**end of warning** The 10k split said about 44 when i flew past it. At this point i was pretty much soaked. Then again that is nothing new for me with working outside all summer. I started to feel a bit of chaffing going on in the nipple area about mile 7. Then water stop three i decided to walk when i got a cup of water. Even with walking i still inhaled some of the water. Drank about half dumped the rest on my head. Off i go again with a little cough. After the water stop my GPS seams to be about .15 miles off where as it was with in feet of the mile markers before. I'm sure it just got messed up when i walked for a min.
From mile 8 to 9 it was pretty flat and straight. It was a nice 'rest' for the last push to the finish. I ran right threw water stop 4 at mile 11. This is when i looked down at my shirt. Hmmm where is that red coming from... but i knew right away. my left nip was bleeding. I really hope i didn't end up on camera with a bloody shirt. Once i saw that my nip was bleeding it was off with the shirt. I spent the next mile trying to get the thing to stop bleeding while i was running using my sweat soaked shirt. At mile 12 i started to turn up the pace. Mile marker 13 i could hear the cheering and music from the finish area but still couldn't see it. Even with out seeing it i still found that next higher gear.
i hit the finish line at 1:34:08... a full 18 mins off my first half marathon and 11 mins faster than i needed to qualify for corral 1 at TCM. So needless to say i was very happy with my time.
After the race i had a cookie and some Gatorade and walked around a bit waiting for Scott (my ride to the race) to finish. They announced something about a door prize tent but i never win anything so i didn't bother heading over to it right away. After Scott done we went over to the tent and what do ya know i won an REI hydration pack. I will use it for sure at my 50K in the spring or even this winter on longer runs as it will be easier to keep from freezing than a bottle.
Then we headed out. And i have got to say my training really paid off. I'm not sore at all right now I'm sure i will be in the morning but i don't see the need right now to take more than a couple days off.
well thanks for reading my RR i hope you didn't fall asleep too many times during it. :P sorry i didn't get any pics but the camera was another thing i forgot along with my nipple tape this morning.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
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