My First Half Marathon

The day finally came and went and now I'm left wondering how to keep up with running while balancing hiking, cycling, sommelier studies and a full-time work schedule. There is a race early next year on the PCT that looks appealing, so maybe I'll train for that as another early season opener. But I also have the goofy idea in my head that I'd like to do a marathon or an ultra, although the fact that i can hardly go down the stairs right now is making double my distance today look pretty fantastical.

I'll do a little write-up of the event for anyone who stumbles across this blog. First off, my training. I didn't follow any real training plan, although my regime loosely mirrored Hal Higdon's novice 2 program. Back in December I started running slow 3 miles on the trails at Forest Park and was soon running 6-9 miles. I did this about 3 times a week, with a long run a Saturday and cycling on Sundays. I generally kept to this, increasing my mileage every week. My splits generally fell between 9 and 10 minutes on pavement, but slower on trails.

Yesterday I was anxious about "tapering." I felt as though I was being too easy on myself and should've run more. I got fearful of eating too much and putting on weight when I should've been at my fittest. But I forced myself to rest the last two days, especially since I work on my feet. I ate cheese and roasted chicken, avoided grains and anything else that has been known to bother my temperamental stomach. My carb load dinner was just a huge salad and then fingering potatoes and brown rice with olive oil and salt. In the morning I had a whole wheat wrap with peanut butter and a banana and a sugar-free Red Bull (gross, I know, but sometimes my coffee addiction doesn't mesh with running). Whatever I did, it was right. I hit the trail slightly hungry but with no runner's stomach issues. I carried Gatorade and Gu packets.

The route starts off with a pretty nice downhill to the lake as a warm up, and then a short rocky staircase climb after which the trail is mostly rollers on gentle forest trail. Runners leave staggered, but I still had to navigate past walkers who had lined up with the faster runners. No big deal, the trail was wide enough to accommodate everyone. I hopped onto an 11 minute mile paceline for a little while, then about 4 or 5 miles in decided I was selling myself short and should kick it up. By the first aid station I was feeling the difference between trail and road running - it's much harder, even on a "flat" trail like Timothy Lake. But I plodded on, a little faster this time, now consistently in the low 10 minute mile pace range. When I got to the dam I began to feel confident that I would finish, and followed the scenic shoreline around the south side of the lake alternating between grimacing with pain and shooting around other runners when I felt a surge of energy.  The climb back up the hill at the end slowed everyone down - back in the mid-pack no one was running up that thing. I was shooting for finishing the 14.1 mile loop around 2 hours 30 minutes (actually under, but once I saw how much slower the trail was I decided anywhere in the vicinity would be fine), and finished with a time of 2:31. I was fifth in my division, middle of the overall group, and in the upper third of all women. I'm fine with that for my first half, especially since trail times are slower. I don't know if I left everything I had out there, but I certainly couldn't have done much better even if I had started off faster.

The weather was nice, the mosquitoes in the morning were heinous. Dr B and friends had gone biking in the area, so after my little post-race snack and nap in the back of my car we all went to the Ratskellar in Government Camp. I took the risk of drinking alcohol with a depressed immune system and had a crappy margarita with a salt rim. Mmmm, sour mix.