9:30 AM - I fell asleep a little earlier last night than I had wanted, but as I had finished my second final, as well as studied for a third, I was wiped out. Plus I was told I would not be missing my long run this week! So I decided to hit the hay because I had my work cut out for me on Sunday.
It was kind of chilly when I woke up today. Temperature about 20 degrees. By 9:30 it had warmed up to a brisk 24, though minimal wind so it was pretty much the best case scenario. Overcast, and roads pretty clear, except for some black ice patches on the backroads. Kept Sasha and Michelle's suggestions in mind as I laced up my shoes, put on a pair of long spandex, a hat, gloves, and two long sleeve shirts. Headed out the door and down the driveway...
These are splits/ hilights from what I remember:
MILE 1: Pretty much downhill. Hung a left onto Parkis Mills Road and clocked a 7:45. Thinking : "Okay, Benn. Not bad. Remember you still have 12 to go. Don't let those horses take too much slack right away."
MILE 2: Consisted of two .2 - .3 uphills. Shortened my stride and just kept the turnover the same, and trudged, trudged, trudged up them. Felt good and relaxed. No soreness really from the last two 50+ mile weeks with no days off :) Good sign, I thought.
MILE 3: Hit the mark at just about 23:00. Felt good and relaxed. Knew the next 5k coming up would be a lot of downhill.
MILES 4 thru 6: Some nice downhills in here that I knew ended up bringing my average mile time down a bit. Held back on the steep downgrades though. At mile 5 met a cheerful hunting duo carrying shotguns. Ironic that they were walking uphill, and about half a mile later at the bottom of the hill I startled 4 hens and a tom that came fluttering about 12 feet above the ground through the trees. Guess the turkeys won today! Accidentally passed the 6 MILE mark and forgot to check my time :(.
MILES 7 & 8: Downhill again. Didn't think about pace too much, so much as breathing. Wanted to keep it in check and basically breathing once every four or five steps (my relaxed pace).
MILE 9: Was back out on the main road this time, Rte. 29 (which I would be following all the way back to my house). This is always my least favorite part of running routes going east, because you have to take Rte. 29 back which is the busiest road in the county. And boy people are really inconsiderate. At just about the 9 MILE mark, I hear cars approaching from the back of me, and I'm all the way over on the side of the shoulder, though there is an ice patch coming up in front of me so I go out a bit to the right. There is a double yellow line and no cars coming the other way so I figure I'm good. I'm about halfway around it when simultaneously an 18 wheeler is coming by in the same direction as me, and a hot-to-trot black BMW speeds around it, narrowly missing my arm by I'd say about 12 to 18 inches. Needless to say I was quite unnerved as well as a little angry that someone would not only break the law, but put other people in danger. Mind you, this was in a 40 MPH zone and he had to easily be doing 55 or 60. Hit the 9 MILE mark on the bridge, and remembered this time to look at my watch. It read 1:07:02!! I think this was for the first time when I realized, hey wait a minute, Benn! You're doin' alright!!!
MILES 10 & 11: Uphill again, as the remainder of the run would be. I didn't really want to try to increase my pace, but rather hold it, especially after the run in with the near collision! During MILE 11, someone pulled over a bit in front of me and proceeded to ask me directions to Ballston Spa, which is a town about 20 miles away. When I gave the simplest directions I could think of, she seemed quite angry like it was my fault she had headed west after getting off the Northway instead of south :-. I didn't let it get to me though, and I pushed on. When I hit the hotel which is about my 2 mile mark, I just kept the tempo up. I was breathing hard now, about once every 3 steps, maybe 2.
MILES 12 to 13.1: I have run this part of Rte. 29 countless hundreds of times since I started training in high school. I felt nice and relaxed, though by now my legs were starting to feel the hills. I pushed on though, kept the tempo - imagined like I was on my bike on the trip to Maine two years ago, just plugging away at the hills: step-2-3-4-step-2-3-4. "Knees up, Benn. Almost there". I kept pushing, and started to think of my mantra.. and thought about how I would get to call Emmy as soon as I got inside. "You can do this, Benn!" I drove hard towards the finish.
And it was then, at the 13.11 MARK I knew I'd done it. Without seemingly "racing", I'd set my BIGGEST PR OF THE YEAR!!! (and arguably MY LIFE!) I warmed down to the house (~.5 miles)
NEW HALF MARATHON (13.11 Miles) - 1:38:31 (that's 7:31/mile PACE!!!!) That's aHALF MARATHON PR of 11 minutes 29 seconds Old Record was 1:50:xx set in winter of 2004 when I was a freshman in college and about 20 pounds lighter!!!
I'm so glad I went out there and ran that long run today!!!! Thanks to everyone who inspires me, and pushes me to run by heart out. I think I can finally say that I see the benefits of more consistent training, and having people that believe you can do it! :-D
