my makeup may be flaking

This race was an important confidence booster for me. As a background here is a quick list of my half marathons.

2008:1:19,1:13

2009:1:19,1:11,1:11

2010:1:11,1:16,1:14

2011:1:15,1:16,1:14

Basically I had run 5 straight half marathons 3 minutes+ slower than my PR. There was an excuse for each of them. For the first one, I was recovering from a Sinus Infection. The 2nd one I was inexplicably sore (to the point that I couldn't sit down) for a week prior to the race. The 3rd 4th and 5th were since injuring my knee in December.

Today was the first day that I had actually felt good on the day of a race in a very long time (probably 8 or 9 months) and I was not really sure what I was capable of. I knew that the course would be aided and that I might be able to run a monster time (like a 1:07 or a 1:08) and I also knew that the downhill might make my suffer through a 1:16. Honestly, anything was in play.

My prerace plan was to run with Justin Park, who is a very smart runner, but I didn't have enough confidence to follow that plan. At the start the leaders went out very conservatively and I tucked in behind them. A pack of 4 (Kyle Perry, Brandon Hebbert, Brad O. and Fritz) picked it up after a half mile and I was content to watch them dissappear into the distance. I had another runner with me: a 14-year-old called Connor. To begin with I thought he was being an idiot but he looked increasingly comfortable throughout the first couple of miles.

Anyway, my first couple of miles were 5:21 and 5:19. In the 3rd mile there is a sizable hill and it was here that I began to gap Connor and gain a little on Fritz who had fallen off of the front group. That third mile was only a 5:39 despite making up ground. As we crested the hill I was only 1 or 2 seconds behind Fritz and it seemed like if I could make contact with him, then it would be good for both of us.

Those last couple of feet to Fritz proved to be Stubborn however and my legs started to object. It was the same dead, weak feeling that has been creeping into my legs on all my races this year. All of a sudden I was losing ground again and I was bracing myself for a full scale meltdown. I hit the 4th mile in 5:08 (a BIG downhill) and that made me feel much better. That should have felt hard for me. The feeling in my legs continued to worsen however and I I was losing more ground on Fritz. I could tell that my legs would be gradually tightening up between here and the finish and it was just a matter of holding on. Mile 5 was 5:11 (more downhill craziness) and then we settled into some flatter (but still aided miles).

The next few miles were fairly uneventful, but that was good. I kept a good pace going running 5:23,5:25,5:27,5:26 for miles 6-9. I was really starting to hurt in these miles and it was during the 9th mile that Justin finally passed him. I gamely decided to try to stay with him, but trying to run his pace was too much of a shock to my system and I was already very paranoid that my pace was going to stray over 6 minute per mile. He dropped my very slowly (putting less than 10seconds a mile on me over the last 4 miles) but there was no energy left in my legs at all.

Over the last couple of miles I tried to remind myself that even though I was slowing down, I was still running a great race. I first became convinced I could break 1:15, then 1:14, then 1:13. I thought I had an outside shot of sub 1:11, but a 5:36 followed by a 5:43 (slightly uphill) torpedoed those thoughts. I pulled it back a little with a 5:35 to avoid a blowup. The last mile seemed to take forever and I actually underestimated myself as I found I had a good deal left in the finishing straight. My last 1.1 was 5:58 (5:25 pace) to barely miss my PR by 2 seconds.

Clearly this was a big, BIG comeback for me. I finished much better relative to other guys than I had earlier this year. I still feel that I have more in me and I think I can absolutely smash my PR on July 4th. (That will be a very aided race though). Given that this race is aided I think it is still 1.5-2 mins off my best half marathons (which have been hilly beasts). Very pleased with the result though.