Garmin Half Marathon—the Land of Oz

This half marathon was one week after the Rock the Parkway Half Marathon. I didn’t need to train so much as recover from the previous week. I asked around for ideas on what/how to train and recover that week and the consensus was to mostly repeat the last week of the training program I used for the first half marathon. That’s what I did, with the exception of the easy recovery run the day after the Rock the Parkway race—it snowed that day so I opted to do cardio indoors rather than risk slipping and falling.

Pre-race
The forecast had been all over the map for race day: first it was going to be in the 50s, which would have been challenging since we have had an unusually cold spring and I’m not acclimated to running in warmer weather. Then it was going to be much cooler (high 30s) with lots of rain which is just gross. But we ended up with temps in the mid-40s and a slight chance of rain, which is about perfect. I’ll take it.

The race itself started at 6:45 and we knew there were going to be a lot of participants since there was also a 10K and a marathon. We got there pretty early, and while that stunk getting up that early, we also got a good parking spot which helped us a lot after the race. We didn't have to sit in traffic trying to get home.

I’d originally planned to take this race super easy and treat it as a long run. Spoiler alert #1: I didn’t do that. My legs felt really good all week so I decided to find the 2-hour pacers and run with them. Spoiler alert #2: while I did find them, I also found a woman I’d talked with at the Jingle Bell 5K in December and I ended up running with her for the first nine miles.

Race
Jeannie and I had to dodge a lot of runners to get in clear space, but we were right on track at the pace I wanted (about 9 minutes per mile). Once things cleared out a bit, we chatted off and on and before I knew it we’d gone 7 miles and gotten to the hilly part of the race.

Jeannie had said she couldn’t train hills where she lived, so I know this part was hard for her. But she’s a lot faster and more experienced runner than I am so she caught up on the downhills (her best time for a half marathon is about an hour and a half—like I said, she’s fast).

Then around mile 9, we got to the trail part of the race. While the trail was paved, it was also patched a lot so it was pretty uneven and I nearly fell a couple of times. By now, Jeannie had hit her stride (she trains on trails) so she took off. I was starting to feel pretty dead in my legs. I knew I’d finish, I also knew I wouldn’t be breaking the previous week’s time. Here are the random thoughts running through my head from mile 9 to 13:

“I should have eaten that banana this morning.” (I’d eaten the rest of my breakfast but skipped the banana)
“Man my legs are tired.”
“Huh that Dorothy just passed me.” (lots of women in Dorothy costumes since the theme for the race was the Land of Oz)
“Wonder if I can catch that other Dorothy . . . nope, guess not.”
“I really should have eaten that banana.” (like 80 calories was going to make a difference for me at that point)
“Oh look, the Cowardly Lion.”
“My toes hurt.”
“Glad I don’t have a half marathon next weekend.”
“My legs are tired.”

Over and over again. You get the idea. I did briefly walk, and it was at the smallest hill ever but I was just toast at that point. I walked for about 30 seconds, then ran to the finish line for a chip time of 1:59:38.

Post-race
Kent and Jeannie met me at the finish line, and we grabbed a photo of the two of us. She’s a lot of fun and I hope I see her at other races. We milled around a little, I grabbed the print-out of my time and got in line for what I thought was a post-race massage. It wasn’t, it was a chiropractor who popped some things on me (very strange, I don’t go to chiropractors so I think it was mostly wasted on me). Then we were home shortly after 9. That was the one big benefit of the race starting so freaking early (even by my standards).

Next up is the Outpacing Melanoma 5K on Sunday, May 6 (Kent and I are running that together). The third and final half marathon for the Heartland 39.3 Challenge is Saturday, May 12 in Bucyrus, Kansas. It’s called Running with the Cows and I’ve heard it’s a really fun race. I’m back in training and feeling pretty good so we’ll see if I can get a new personal best then.

No guarantees

I was poking around the Outpacing Melanoma 5K race site the other day, and ran across this link, which shares the story of why this race got started.

Long story not so long, her husband had a melanoma removed from his back in 2005, had the 6-month checkups and then five years later out of the blue, he developed a cough and had back pain that felt like sciatic nerve issues. It was metastatic melanoma, stage 4.

He went from totally fine to a nagging cough and some pain and then dead in six weeks’ time. I'm telling you, this is one nasty cancer.

Her story was sobering and the parallels for me are inescapable. I too had a melanoma removed from my back, on my spine to be specific. I too am on the 6-month checkup plan for the next five years. I too have a nagging cough (but also have reactive airway disorder . . . so is this a cough from the reactive airway disorder or something else?). And I too have been having back pain (which is almost certainly from running two half marathons a week apart). It’s probably nothing.

Still.

I’ve been thinking about how or if I would change how I live if I end up in the same situation as her husband. Never mind the memes about eating all the cake, drinking all the wine, etc. What would really matter to me if I had weeks left? And when do I start living that way, as though this is it?

I would hate to get to the end without having thought this through, figured out I would need to do or say and then done it. 

Rock the Parkway Half Marathon--my first half marathon

Training
This is my first half marathon, and in a way, I feel like I’d been training for this one forever. Originally, I planned to run the Hangover Half Marathon on January 1, but it was postponed a week and then ultimately canceled because of extreme cold. The race organizers offered a couple of other races I could switch to instead, so I ran the Sweetheart 10K race in February, which was also postponed a week due to a snow emergency.
I used Hal Higdon’s advanced half marathon plan, not because I’m such an advanced runner but because the distances were about what I run each week anyway. To be honest, while I’ve run most of my life, I haven’t trained or competed until this last year. There’s a lot I don’t know how to do yet (running well downhill for example) and I’m pretty inexperienced with the mental side of racing.

Pre-race
I gotta be honest—it was FREEZING out. I don’t have much insulation any more and have zero shame in wearing layers to run. Those runners who wore shorts and singlets? Insane! I did the tiniest of warm up runs but honestly was shivering so much, I didn’t run more. See that yellow headband I'm wearing? I almost didn't bring it and I'm so glad I did. The wind was just awful and that headband kept my ears from freezing off.

Because I’m inexperienced, I decided to find the 2-hour pacers and stick with them. I didn’t want to go out too fast and I thought it might be good to run with a group (I always run alone). They explained their strategy: slower to start, walk through every aid station, speed up downhill. Stick with us, they said, and we’ll get you there. OK, sounds good to me except I don’t drink or eat during a 2-hour run, so I figured I’d see how I felt at the first aid station and take it from there.

Race
Our first two miles were pretty slow, which was good since I was running with a lot of people and dodging elbows left and right. But when we got to the first aid station, I though hmm I don’t really want to stop and walk, I’ll get even colder so I kept going. I figured they would probably catch up with me later and I’d run with them then. I never did see them again as it turned out.

Around mile 9, a friend was out cheering and that just warmed my heart—she braved some nasty weather to do that and I felt so encouraged.

Then somewhere around mile 11 and right after it started sleeting, a man on my right side who was slightly behind me said “Hey don’t slow down, you’ve been my pacer this whole race—I’ve been following your yellow head band and I want to break the 2 hour mark.” Say what? Someone is using me as a pacer?? So we ran together. Wow did that help—every time I even thought about being tired or cold, I reminded myself that I too wanted that sub-2 hour time and that I’d worked hard for this for months. At the 12 mile mark, Richard (that was his name, we were best buds by now) asked if I had anything left in the tank for the downhill stretch. I don’t know, I said, but I’m sure going to try. And I ran my little legs off until the end.

Post-race
I found my husband, who is the best crew a woman could ask for, grabbed a banana and a beer (really odd pairing to be honest) and went to get the print out of my results. I was pretty confident I’d broken the 2-hour mark according to my watch, but I wanted to see the official results. When I got the print out and saw 1:57:04, I started to cry. Now you have to understand that I’ve been (accurately) called a velvet covered brick, and tears are not normal for me. But I just stood there in the freezing wind blubbering while my sweet husband told me what a great job I did.

Next weekend I run the second of three half marathons for the Heartland 39.3 challenge. It’s supposed to be upper 40s and rain, of course, because apparently I bring crappy weather to races.

Mind over matter

Last Wednesday, my running plan called for a 60-minute run that increased in speed throughout. I’ve done tempo runs (as these are called) before, but what I hadn’t done was an hour long run in 22F with a wind chill of 9F at 4:27 AM. That’s some wind, to drop the temperature that much.

But I did it, and then I had Kent take this lovely photo as proof that yes, I ran in that weather super early in the morning. I look so glamorous!

How cold was it? I always take a little snot rag with me because my nose gets really drippy in the cold weather. It was so cold that the little rag froze.

Big 12 12K race before I forget

I won an entry into the Big 12 12K run through work—the race had three lengths: one mile, 5K and 12K. I could have also run the mile before running the 12K part but since I’ve been training for a half marathon, that race didn’t work into my training plan.

The weather was lovely that morning. Well it was sunny. Also cold and also pretty darn windy. Runners were encouraged to wear their school’s colors, and while I couldn’t find any Jayhawk-specific stuff, I did wear KU blue. You can see I’m also using magnetic holders for my bib. I got tired of poking holes in my good running gear so got these from Amazon. They worked really well.

This route was incredibly hilly and that’s saying something because I run hills all the time. But these were pretty steep, especially the last two miles of the race which was nearly all uphill. 

In this photo at the very end of the race, you can see I’m concentrating really hard. I was mortally afraid I’d catch my toe on one of those carpets that were covering the wires and go tumbling. Fortunately, I didn’t.

All in all, I’m pleased with how I ran. I maintained an average page of 8:57 per mile and came in fourth in my age group. The winner in my age group ran it in 57 minutes!