http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-3271 More later, my legs hurt, bad. Thank you all for your love and well wishes. My lucky javelina was pinned to my shorts (thanks allie) ... It helped a lot over those last painful miles. xxoo Report: I did ok, I really can't complain (except for how much my legs hurt the last 4 miles, and they hurt so much right now - ache - that I can't even take a nap - despite only getting ~3 hours sleep last night ;-)). My half-marathon splits were 1:38:51/1:40:24 -- I wanted to hold it together and go for sub 3:19, but I was just holding on at the end (or that is how I felt anyway). I have to say that the course felt hillier than 2009 -- they did change it, both so we did not have to navigate through the 1/2 marathoners between miles 15-16, and so we could finish on Hayward Field (which I wish I could have enjoyed more - but, I was so focused on the finish line, and stopping running, that I did not see the Jumbo Tron -- small mercies :-) -- or much of the "track" ... ha ha). Maybe it was just the 24secs/mile faster than I ran today that made the hills feel harder? The other two larger points, both have to do with the fact that I am so lucky. I can't believe that 10 years ago I started running. My racing debut was a 23:30 5K followed up with a 1:39:xx 1/2 marathon -- both of these races were the same pace that I just ran 26.2 miles in! I never would have believed it was possible, certainly not at 50 years old. Which brings me to the second of my lucks -- today I hit an unspoken milestone -- it concerns something that Sasha doesn't believe in, but I do. It is WAVA (age-graded performance). Basically, there is a calculator that estimates the percentile for your race results adjusted for your sex and age. It is based on adjustment of your performance to the current world records of your gender - and accounts for the natural slowing that happens as you get older (loss of muscle mass happens no matter what you do). They break this down into percentiles, 90th, 80th, 70th, etc. and the "rule-of-thumb" is that 90th percentile is "world class", 80th percentile is "national class", and 70th percentile is "local class" (they also give you an estimate of what your time is worth in "peak age" performance, which is a little 'murkier'. Anyway -- I have been in the 75th-78th percentile range for the entire time I have been running. Today ... bloggers, I hit a long sought after goal of mine -- I hit the 80.63th percentile! I was very happy, maybe it is a silly target - but it was a target of mine for a long time. This race hurt more than any race I have ever done. I never felt "comfortable" and I hurt very badly the last 4 miles. My splits aren't horrible, and I am pretty surprised about this - because I tell you -- I was hurting. I had a side stitch at mile 21, and then at mile 24 my side-stitch woes went away because my left leg was hurting so badly ... I saw all these guys (again, just like last time there were more men around me than women) laying around on the grass the last 3 miles, and I thought, oh man, I could so do that right now. We ran by our hotel at mile 22 and I so looked at it, long and hard. I wanted to stop and call it a day. But, I was racing these women - we kept passing eachother back and forth the entire race, and I was "holding on to them" and I did not want to let them beat me. They did -- but I was right on one of them at the end -- I was 3:19:15 and she was 3:19:14. Frustrating because I passed her at about 25 1/2 and then she passed me as we hit the track!! I couldn't respond, I just hung on for dear life. First 5 miles (7:32 AP): 7:41, 7:23, 7:28, 7:35, 7:33 Second 5 miles (7:28 AP): 7:17 (downhill after an uphill), 7:32, 7:25, 7:32, 7:38 Third 5 miles (7:37 AP): 7:34, 7:42, 7:34, 7:39, 7:40 (I was really starting to hurt here - I felt like I was slipping into much slower pace than it ended up being) Fouth 5 miles (7:36 AP): 7:25, 7:39, 7:43, 7:32, 7:41 (trying to pass the women) Fifth 5 miles (7:40 AP): 7:39, 7:38, 7:44 (hurting really bad), 7:40, 7:43 (like really bad), final two splits (were wrong, I think the 26 mile marker was in the wrong spot): 7:08, 2:17 So glad to stop running. My legs cramped so badly when I finished ... yowser, from my toes to my adductor ... ouch. So, that is that. I loved the fans, I love Eugene. At mile 24 there were these guys with cups, they yelled: "water", "beer" ;-). There was a lot of music on the course, from bystandanders. Mainly hits from Bob Marely, and from the 70s and 80s (my favorite). The weather was PERFECT. The size was perfect, it was a little congested the first mile, but it cleared out quickly. Everything was perfect. You are all perfect. Thank you so much, for everything the past 6 years I have been on the blog, and throughout the difficult times in the last couple of years. And, thank you for sharing these good times with me too.
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