Half-marathon race report

First of all, let me get this out:  my time was 1:58:54.  Pregnant.  Allow me a minute of gloating to myself, because I am REALLY proud that I chipped 7 and a half minutes off my time from April's half (my first).  While pregnant. 

Okay, I'm done now.  :-)

Neil and I got up at 5:15 this morning and drove to Indianapolis.  We picked up our packets (sidenote:  it's weird seeing a bunch of runners all together because it's like what America would look like if there wasn't such a big obesity problem.  It made me realize how used to that I am when I was surprised by seeing so many slender and fit people), but it was icy cold, so we climbed back in the car for awhile and luxuriated in the warmth.  Then we decided to go over and go to the bathroom at CVS before the race, rather than a portapotty, although honestly, the portapotty would have probably smelled better--the CVS bathrooms had been very overused that morning.  We waited in line for almost 40 minutes (!!!) and then when we got out, we heard the last notes of the Star Spangled Banner drifting away in the breeze.  And Neil had still not tied his shoes, for some weird reason.  So we sprinted to the start line, and since we were in Corral C, we had to do a lot of running to get up to our place, since the corrals went back to H or so.  But we were both had a serious shot of adrenaline to start off!

This race is much more of a blur to me than the last two.  I ran to my iPod the entire time, since I start to slow down when I'm talking.  Pros were that I was more focused, cons were that I didn't feel as connected to Neil throughout the race since weren't talking much (and apparently I was talking extremely loudly). 

The first couple of miles were great.  I was running easily; we were going through a state park with gorgeous fall colors, and I felt fantastic.  Right about at the third mile marker we hit the first substantial hill, and we were back on the road, and that was not so pleasant.  I jogged up the hill making sure to stay in front of the 4-hour marathon pace group and decided I wouldn't worry about pace as long as they were in sight.  I actually managed to maintain a really even pace during this race, which was great--I think all of the training and speedwork really paid off in making me a more even runner without a tendency to run fast on the flats and then slow way down on hills.  Anyway.

Mile 5 is distinguished only because I felt my hernia scar hurting.  Then it went away.  Mile 6 was where I stopped to go to the bathroom because it seemed like a good idea, and I could NOT GO AT ALL.  I was so irritated that I'd wasted the time!!  Mile 7 was one of those really annoying doubler things where the people on the other side of the road already ran to a turn-around point, and you're just running wondering how far it is until YOU get to the turnaround point, which we did at mile 8.  I noticed the time at this marker was 1:14 something, which was encouraging because we only had 5 miles left and I was fairly confident at this point we'd make it in under 2 hours.  Miles 9-10 were another annoying turn-around thingie, except this one was really, really long.  And it also doubled back on the marathon course, so we could see the very front runners in the marathon on mile 17 or so.  We were also running through a bunch of leaveless walnut trees at this point, which I found annoying because they were very ugly, and I didn't like looking at them for so long (I know, it was a dumb thing to be irritated about, but...).  Just before mile 11, we were back in the woods and hitting the nasty hills.  Many people were walking up; I kept on running but it was pretty much willpower getting me through, since I could feel the lactic acid hitting my legs and some of the fatigue setting in.  Neil, on the other hand, was jumping up to grab branches and making them shower leaves down on the people behind him, which I'm sure they all loved.  Tall Man Not Running to Capacity Because of Slower Wife. 

Mile 12 was another willpower mile.  I knew that I was still within the time for a sub-2 half, and this thought kept me going.  Honestly, at this point I was very zoned in and focused.  I didn't feel good, but I was just extremely focused, and annoyed at the people trying to shove water at me.  Seriously?  You think I'm going to stop for water now? 

Mile 13 came and went somewhere, and I don't know when, because we could see the finish line from about 1/3 of a mile away, so I was really just looking ahead wondering how it was still so far away.  The guy next to me kicked my foot right as we were about 100 yards away and grabbed my shoulder to pull me back up, which I really appreciated, since it was probably my fault that we ran into each other anyway. 

I crossed the finish line at the same steady pace that I'd used the whole way--honestly, I don't think I could have sprinted if I'd wanted to, since I was just in my zone and running with the exact same tempo that I'd been using for the last five miles.  Right up until the very end, I was still passing people, which felt GREAT--the last guy I passed was probably 20 feet from the finish line?  It was pretty much the best thing ever to be consistently passing for the whole race, although some of that may have been due to the fact that I took the time to walk through every water stop so I could actually stay hydrated for the baby's sake.  And I didn't feel like passing out like I did after the April half, which was also awesome.  I really felt pretty good; Neil and I walked around and looked at all the tents and ate some food and I got an astronaut blanket, which helped control the crazy shivering I always have after I finish a run.

Overall, I was really happy with this race, not just that I met my goal of a sub-2 half-marathon, but I really felt like my training paid off.  During the last three miles, I was tired, but my body was so conditioned to just keep going that my legs took over and just did their own thing.  I must say that while I did MORE mileage overall, and did a lot more speedwork, than I did for my first half in April, the most I ended up ever running for the long runs was ten miles (the 11-mile run got knocked out by Neil's concussion, and we tapered to 7 instead of the 12 last week), but I think overall I was at a high enough fitness level that it wasn't an issue.  I think the last three miles, in a weird way, were actually easier than some of the middle miles.