So, Big PR baby!!!!!! Chick score - Zero. # ladies participating, about 500. My biggest race ever.
I would guess that the course is off, and about 12.95 from a nontechnical average of all our Garmins, which would make this time a 1:22:36 (1:22:42 per Ted) for a true 13.1. I am eating humble pie about Sasha science. He was off by a measley one second per mile.
That is just over a six minute PR.
I am so grateful to Ted for pacing me. I think having a great pacer is worth one full minute, and most don't have that benefit, so hat's off to Ted. Thank you so much!
I warmed up 1 mile with Josse and Marcie, then another mile with Marcie. Leg felt good. We didn't have time to stretch much and we did just one stride. We found Ted at the starting line, and Ted, Ruth, Marcie and I were going to start off together for a 6:40 first mile, which Ted sensibly turned into a 6:24 mile, so our pack broke down pretty much right from the start.
1 - 6:24, felt good, Ted asked if it felt like a good "jog" I said yes which I think was the wrong answer because he started to lead me to 6:15ish pace instead of the 6:25ish pace we had planned on.
2 - 6:22, still feeling good, but harder to talk
3 - 6:17, starting to feel some stomach sourness, trying to ignore it, swished water through my mouth at the water stop, I think Ted teases a couple of guys that they have just gotten "Chicked"
4 - 6:22
5 - 6:23, steep but not too long hill in this section, stinky but made up pace after it, Water stop with one shot blok, hard to swallow and I do alot of coughing and takes alot of effort to down it.
6 - 6:07 Ted is getting fiesty in his pacing, had some downhill,
7 - 6:15 Ted starts out this mile just under 6 minute pace for the first quarter and I'm like, "Ted we're going 6:00 pace" and he says, "We are?" Nice try Ted! He was trying to test me but I didn't feel like it was sustainable so we pull back. I imagine Sasha saying to Ted, "Now if she is looking strong, try to sneek down to 6 minute pace and see if she cooperates." Perhaps for Hobble Creek in the summer.
8 - 6:17 - Second water station in this mile, same shot blok issue, then we go into a neighborhood where Ted and I debated which direction to go, he voted right and that was correct, I think we lost a second or two there
9 - 6:29 - nasty long uphill into a neighborhood, and I am not feeling so spry
10 - 6:16, not so sure I can drop the pace after the long uphill but so grateful to see another good split, Ted is starting to bark at me to stay on his shoulder
11 - 6:15, this mile is so hard, Ted is coaxing me, coaxing me through it. I am sure this mile would have been 20 seconds slower or more without him, we go through a section where there are racers behind us going the opposite direction than we are through a water stop and they are crossing our path AND walking and I grumble, so Ted yells multiple times, CLEAR THE WAY, MAKE A PATH, or something like that, it was like him saying "Make way for the Queen." If I can't have a clear path, at least I have an ROTC leader to make sure I have a path :)
12 - 6:28, this is where I start falling apart, I am really feeling it, but there are so many people going the other direction on the race path who are cheering me on (oh, did I mention I am in first place for the ladies all through the race?!?), and I am thinking that some of them are new to the sport, so I am thinking, "Make it look like you are having fun, Michelle, you don't want them to think that it's miserable even for the front runners." So I try to smile and make it look bearable, and I think that it helped me not slow down more than I did. And Ted is HARRASSING me at this point, just like I asked him to, and it would work for 10-15 minute segments, and I think having him pace me was worth about 20 seconds on this mile. I was telling myself, you may be hitting a wall, but do not make it as bad as St. George (where slowed down 1-1:30 per mile for the last three miles). I did get passed by a couple of guys in this mile :(
13 - 6:35 pace (I measured 12.88 but everyone else I talked to measured longer). This mile was soooo hard but I tried not to let go too bad, and was able to turn it on a little bit at the end. I was passed by a couple of guys in the last 1/2 mile, though I am sad to say. Had to fake it for the crowds at the end. Some crying and moaning in the last couple of miles (specifically when Ted told me to pick it up once-then he told me no whining) and at the end, all very typical for me.
So, I faded a little but that is because the pace for the first 3/4 of the race was risky and in foreign territory and just plain at my limit. I am grateful for Ted's encouragement, especially in the last couple of miles. I would have hit him on the head if I had had more energy, so I guess that is a lesson for pacers, don't be too easy on your racers or they'll actually have energy to do the violence on you that they want to.
I looked for lady number 2 and was so happy to see the very talented Ruthie come in, looking like the race was a cake walk. She is scary fast!
Jogged 2 with Ted, Logan, Hal and James. It was nice to pick Logan's brain - thanks for humoring me Logan.
Thank you so much to all bloggers who are a part of my successes. I can't believe I have come so far in 6.5 months (remember Sasha and Sarah, meeting a chubby Michelle Lowry on July 4th who said she wanted to run a 3:20 marathon?).
Asics
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