Last week I lamented about “officially” hitting my MID-thirties. Today, I say, “Take THAT 35!” as I still bask in the glow of an excellent half-marathon in Moraine Hills. So how did it go? Let me tell you…
The weather was less than ideal: Mid-thirties (ha! Like ME!), windy and oh yeah, SNOW!! I was not surprised. Like-minded running folk understand the monitoring of the weather leading up to race day. But since we are in Illinois and there is no gray-area with weather, the change from temps in the sunny 70’s to cold, biting wind and rain is not a huge surprise. However, for someone who suffers from migraines, it was not a good scenario for me. Sound familiar? Yes, same thing happened for the March Madness Half 6 months ago. So, at least it wasn’t the first time it happened. This time, it wasn’t as bad and for some reason, the medicine isn’t affecting me in the same way as before, so I didn’t have the heaviness in my limbs that I usually do. Thank goodness!
The night before, I laid out my clothes. The Moms Run This Town group calls this your “Flat Mama” and we all post the pics in the group the night before the race. It’s both fun and helpful to set everything out the night before. Here’s my Flat Mama:
The weather was less than ideal: Mid-thirties (ha! Like ME!), windy and oh yeah, SNOW!! I was not surprised. Like-minded running folk understand the monitoring of the weather leading up to race day. But since we are in Illinois and there is no gray-area with weather, the change from temps in the sunny 70’s to cold, biting wind and rain is not a huge surprise. However, for someone who suffers from migraines, it was not a good scenario for me. Sound familiar? Yes, same thing happened for the March Madness Half 6 months ago. So, at least it wasn’t the first time it happened. This time, it wasn’t as bad and for some reason, the medicine isn’t affecting me in the same way as before, so I didn’t have the heaviness in my limbs that I usually do. Thank goodness!
The night before, I laid out my clothes. The Moms Run This Town group calls this your “Flat Mama” and we all post the pics in the group the night before the race. It’s both fun and helpful to set everything out the night before. Here’s my Flat Mama:
The morning of the race: I ate my banana early at 4:50 when I woke up and took a migraine pill. Thank goodness I was able to fall back asleep! My alarm woke me up at 6:16 and I ate my usual race day breakfast of white bagel with Simply Jif peanut butter, a cup of coffee and water.
After getting dressed, I stretched out and then it was time to get going. I got to the starting line an hour early and I was able to meet up with my buddies, Kathy and Bridget before the race. Here we are, freezing our kiesters off waiting to get started
After getting dressed, I stretched out and then it was time to get going. I got to the starting line an hour early and I was able to meet up with my buddies, Kathy and Bridget before the race. Here we are, freezing our kiesters off waiting to get started
The race wasn’t chip-timed, but they did have us start off in different waves. There were a dozen or so different groups and they staggered our starts to help ease congestion on the trails. My bib had a red dot on the top, so I started in the second wave. One thing that was weird was that the bottom of my bib didn’t have anything on it. Since I knew that at the finish line someone would tear the bottom of my bib off in order to keep my place and figure out my official time and place in the race, I made sure to handwrite my name, age and sex before the start. I should have made sure to write “RED wave” on the bottom as well, but didn’t think of it.
Once we started, I got my garmin watch going (it started a little late because I forgot that it takes a little longer for the gps to find my location out in the woods). Thankfully the biggest hills were within the first couple of miles. I was glad to have my Garmin with me, not only to track my longest run since I’ve purchased it, but to keep track of my pace. I didn’t want to go out too fast and fizzle out before the end. I tried to listen to my body and to move at a pace that felt good, but when I’d look down within the first half of the race, I’d see anywhere from 8:45-9:20 and it was a good reminder to try and slow down. I tried, but apparently I didn’t because my overall pace for the race was 9:32, but maybe it would have been faster if I hadn’t at least tried to slow down. I think I would have burned out way too soon if I had been much faster in the first half.
The race was a 10K as well as a half-marathon and the course was laid out so that after running the two big loops on that side of the park, those of us running 13.1 were supposed to head out to the other side of River Road, run the Dam Trail, then up River Road and back to the finish. Once we got back the start and the 10Kers were done, reality set in. I said to myself, “This is it. This is where it gets real.” And it did. I started to get tired. If I had to guess, I’d say this temporary wall was 33.3% physical and 66.67% mental. The mental part had to do with the fact that the 10Kers were done and it’s disheartening to hear the cheers for them and see them turn off to their finish and to know that you aren’t even half-way done yet. But alas, something very cool happened just then.
I had my head down as I past the 10K turn off, like I said, trying to pick myself up mentally and truck on. I approached a group of spectators at this time. Even though I didn’t know any of them, they started cheering really encouraging things, like “Come on! Get your head up!” I looked at them and smiled, appreciating the kind encouragement. Then one guy said something like, “You’re going to PR this race! Come on, Ambassador!” That perked me up big time! I smiled and said, “Thank you!!!” and I swear, that comment gave me enough energy to get me going again and it lasted a good while. To know this person has read this blog at some point or another, felt pretty awesome and I say, “Thank you!!!” again for the encouragement and support.
Soon after this, I got to River Road and headed to the Dam trail. Once I got to River Road, the wind hit pretty hard, but my resolve was not gone. At this point, though I was really just trying to make it the next water stop. I wasn’t necessarily thirsty, but my strategy for halfs is to always take the water and walk for a minute while I sip. Thankfully, there weren’t any big hills in this part of the course. But once I was back on River Road for the last 3 miles, even the steady inclines were bugging me and wearing me down. At one point when I had about 1.5 miles left, I started to walk and this guy came up behind me and said, “Nope, come on, we’re almost done. You can do it!” I immediately started running again with him and chatted for a half mile or so. That was really good because he paced me and had me faster than I would have made myself start back up. I ended up trailing behind him again after a while, but it definitely got me back going. I’m very grateful to him!
Surprisingly, there were quite a few rolling hills in the last mile of the course. They totally sucked while I was doing them. I kept trying to tell myself, “You’ve done 12 miles of this already, what’s one more mile? You’re almost done.” At the finish line, I had the same feeling I always do: It’s hard to breathe, I had a lot of pressure on my chest and it feels like I’m not going to be able to finish. But I saw my husband and boys at the finish line, as well as my friend, Christine from the Moms Run This Town group and it totally got me across the finish.
Since we started in waves, I knew that the time on the clock at the finish line was not my actual time, but since I started with the second wave, I knew it wasn’t far off. The clock said 2:05 and some odd seconds, so I was happy! I figured I’d check my official time before I left. After not too long, I was able to cheer my buddies on at the finish line. Here we are with our medals:
Once we started, I got my garmin watch going (it started a little late because I forgot that it takes a little longer for the gps to find my location out in the woods). Thankfully the biggest hills were within the first couple of miles. I was glad to have my Garmin with me, not only to track my longest run since I’ve purchased it, but to keep track of my pace. I didn’t want to go out too fast and fizzle out before the end. I tried to listen to my body and to move at a pace that felt good, but when I’d look down within the first half of the race, I’d see anywhere from 8:45-9:20 and it was a good reminder to try and slow down. I tried, but apparently I didn’t because my overall pace for the race was 9:32, but maybe it would have been faster if I hadn’t at least tried to slow down. I think I would have burned out way too soon if I had been much faster in the first half.
The race was a 10K as well as a half-marathon and the course was laid out so that after running the two big loops on that side of the park, those of us running 13.1 were supposed to head out to the other side of River Road, run the Dam Trail, then up River Road and back to the finish. Once we got back the start and the 10Kers were done, reality set in. I said to myself, “This is it. This is where it gets real.” And it did. I started to get tired. If I had to guess, I’d say this temporary wall was 33.3% physical and 66.67% mental. The mental part had to do with the fact that the 10Kers were done and it’s disheartening to hear the cheers for them and see them turn off to their finish and to know that you aren’t even half-way done yet. But alas, something very cool happened just then.
I had my head down as I past the 10K turn off, like I said, trying to pick myself up mentally and truck on. I approached a group of spectators at this time. Even though I didn’t know any of them, they started cheering really encouraging things, like “Come on! Get your head up!” I looked at them and smiled, appreciating the kind encouragement. Then one guy said something like, “You’re going to PR this race! Come on, Ambassador!” That perked me up big time! I smiled and said, “Thank you!!!” and I swear, that comment gave me enough energy to get me going again and it lasted a good while. To know this person has read this blog at some point or another, felt pretty awesome and I say, “Thank you!!!” again for the encouragement and support.
Soon after this, I got to River Road and headed to the Dam trail. Once I got to River Road, the wind hit pretty hard, but my resolve was not gone. At this point, though I was really just trying to make it the next water stop. I wasn’t necessarily thirsty, but my strategy for halfs is to always take the water and walk for a minute while I sip. Thankfully, there weren’t any big hills in this part of the course. But once I was back on River Road for the last 3 miles, even the steady inclines were bugging me and wearing me down. At one point when I had about 1.5 miles left, I started to walk and this guy came up behind me and said, “Nope, come on, we’re almost done. You can do it!” I immediately started running again with him and chatted for a half mile or so. That was really good because he paced me and had me faster than I would have made myself start back up. I ended up trailing behind him again after a while, but it definitely got me back going. I’m very grateful to him!
Surprisingly, there were quite a few rolling hills in the last mile of the course. They totally sucked while I was doing them. I kept trying to tell myself, “You’ve done 12 miles of this already, what’s one more mile? You’re almost done.” At the finish line, I had the same feeling I always do: It’s hard to breathe, I had a lot of pressure on my chest and it feels like I’m not going to be able to finish. But I saw my husband and boys at the finish line, as well as my friend, Christine from the Moms Run This Town group and it totally got me across the finish.
Since we started in waves, I knew that the time on the clock at the finish line was not my actual time, but since I started with the second wave, I knew it wasn’t far off. The clock said 2:05 and some odd seconds, so I was happy! I figured I’d check my official time before I left. After not too long, I was able to cheer my buddies on at the finish line. Here we are with our medals:
With coffee and bagel in hand, Kathy and I went to check the results. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this:
Third place in my age/sex group?!?! I couldn’t believe it!! They were actually handing out awards as we neared the tent, but I didn’t imagine that I should listen! Gobsmacked, I got my award medal and posed for pictures while my buddy Kathy took some with my phone. I was SO excited as I got in my car, but something just didn’t feel right. I was thinking about the time they had me at: 2:00:26. That was almost 5 minutes faster than the clock when I came in. I knew that couldn’t be right. Then it came to me: the bottom of my bib didn’t have my wave color on it! They probably assumed that I was in the last wave! So I went back to the timing people, told them my theory and I was right. My actual time was 2:04:56. So I handed the medal back and left. I’m not going to lie, I was really bummed! If that hadn’t had happened, I would have gotten into my car and been super happy with my time and the whole thing, and I still am...but for 5 minutes, I had placed for the first time, on a really challenging course! But, honestly, 4th place is still pretty cool and I feel really great about how the whole thing went. I am so happy that I chose to do this challenging course this time around. AND, not only did I achieve my goal of beating my last Half PR of 2:10, I made into the next round of goals, the "It would be nice" goal of getting not only closer but UNDER 2:05. So I am very pleased. Next half I don't think I'll have any problem getting under 2:00.
My next race is already in two weeks! It’s actually a virtual race and even though I’m not really into those, I could not pass up this medal
My next race is already in two weeks! It’s actually a virtual race and even though I’m not really into those, I could not pass up this medal
The Lake and Mchenry County Moms Run this Town group is going to run it together on Saturday, October 18 and I’m going to do the 10K. It will actually be my first 10K race. So I get to check that off my list, get a gorgeous medal and run with the ladies. A perfect trifecta!
Thanks so much for all of your support in person and through the interwebs. I have the best friends in the world! Also, a big THANK YOU to the Running Depot for sponsoring me in this run! It has been so fun and rewarding to work with the coaches and the store! Have an amazing week, friends and thanks for reading!
Thanks so much for all of your support in person and through the interwebs. I have the best friends in the world! Also, a big THANK YOU to the Running Depot for sponsoring me in this run! It has been so fun and rewarding to work with the coaches and the store! Have an amazing week, friends and thanks for reading!