Race Report: 2009 Rock n Roll Seattle Half Marathon
Pre Race
I stayed with my Dad at his downtown hotel the night before the race because it made race day logistic much easier for me. The wake-up call came at 4am and I quickly got changed, made some green tea and headed out the door. I walked the six blocks to the Westin and immediately boarded a waiting shuttle bus (big yellow school bus) to the start line. It was about 4:45 am by the time I arrived at the start line. I did a quick walk around to get the lay of the land before things got too crowded and then settled down on the grass to eat my breakfast and relax. I checked my gear bag at about 6am, took one final trip through the porta potty line and then entered my start corral.
My projected finish time of 1:54 put me in corral six. I think there were about 35 corrals for the 25,000 registered runners (17,500 in the half, 5,000 in the full). This is definitely the biggest race I’ve ever run. I’ve heard that other runners had problems getting to the start line. My advice to future runners is to take the shuttle and get there early!
As I was waiting for the race to start I really had no expectations for the day. I just wanted to have a good time and enjoy my last Seattle long run. I’d done nine weeks of really solid training but then I finished my PhD and went on vacation so running took a back seat. In other words I did a two week taper of 3 runs for a total of 15 miles. I had no plan, no real goal pace and no worries.
Miles 1-5 (9:01, 8:26, 8:32, 8:22, 9:11)
The first mile was crowded but I didn’t really suffer any major bunching problems. I tried to keep things easy and I was happy this mile came in under 9:09 (the pace for a two hour half). The first few miles through Tukwila and Ranier Valley were new running ground for me so I never knew what would be around the next corner. There were a few small hills but nothing major and I was able to settle into a reasonably comfortable pace. The worst hill of the day came during the fifth mile. Almost the entire mile was uphill with approximately 150 ft of elevation gained. It was tough but nothing compared to Prospect Point in the Vancouver half. I ran up the whole thing and was pretty happy with the 9:11 split for mile 5.
Keeping with the rock n roll theme of the race there were bands playing every mile. That was a fun distraction. There were also cheer squads whose enthusiasm I greatly appreciated. The water stations and volunteers were awesome which was good because I chose to run without my own hand held water bottle.
Miles 6-10 (8:21, 8:07, 8:36, 8:31, ?:??)
During the sixth mile we recovered from the previous mile’s big climb with a very steep downhill. There was actually a volunteer warning runners about the downhill. It was so steep people were running with there arms out for balance. I tired to run relaxed like a rag doll and roll down the hill. I took my only gel of the race somewhere in mile 6. I thought I should get one down but I didn’t really feel like I needed it. Miles 7, 8 and 9 were very familiar to me. We ran north along Lake Washington Blvd. This section is part of the Seattle Marathon course and I’ve run it in training many times. There was good crowd support in this section. I still wasn’t too concerned about my pace but I knew that things were going pretty well. My legs were starting to get tight and tired but cardiovascularly I was still feeling strong. I could see I-90 in the distance and focused on getting there.
When we hit I-90 the half marathon and marathon courses split. As we were running through the tunnel the 3 hour marathon pacer went by me (they had run a few more miles than me at this point). Those guys were flying! I actually liked the tunnel mile because it was shaded and a little cooler. My Garmin lost its signal in the tunnel but I’m pretty sure the tenth mile marker was in the wrong place because there’s no way I ran 5:01 mile!
I should note that for some reason I decided not to take any walk breaks during this half. I did walk through a few water stations as I drank water but that was it. I really thought that if I slowed down my legs wouldn’t want to start back up.
Miles 11-13.1 (???, 7:34, 8:50, :50)
By the time I made it to mile 10 I was about ready for the race to be over. My legs were tired and things were starting to get tough. The eleventh mile was along the I-90 express lanes. It was exposed and hot and frankly seemed to last forever. Of course that might have been due to the misplaced mile 10 marker. I could see Qwest Field and knew I just had to make it there. There were some nice downhills in mile 11 and 12 coming down the off ramps. I have no idea how I pulled off a 7:34 mile 12. I was actually telling myself to keep it under control in this mile and prepare to turn it on for the last 1.1 miles. This was the first point in the race where I realized that I had the potential to set a new personal best.
The last mile was a physical and mental struggle. There were a couple of turns and the climb up to Aurora certainly slowed me down. I was pushing but my leg turnover wasn’t quite there. By the time we were coming off Aurora I was ready to be done. The finish was similar to the Race of the Cure finish so at least I’d seen it before. I saw the marathon 26 mile marker and new I was getting close. Eventually I passed the 13 mile marker. I looked at my watch and saw 1:50 on it. I knew a personal best was close so I poured on the best sprint to the finish I could muster.
After I crossed the start line I hit my watch and say 1:51:02. My actual chip time was 1:50:57 which is a new personal best by 1:02 over the 2007 Fall Classic.
Post Race
I got my medal and picked up some water, a banana and a granola bar. I downed my first 500 mL of water very quickly and then another 1L after that. The weather wasn’t that hot (maybe 15C) but it was sunny and I definitely needed the water. I picked up my drop back from the UPS truck and then met my Dad at the “C” sign in the family meeting area.
I’m beyond thrilled to have set a new personal best. I don’t have a half way time but I definitely ran a negative split (second half faster than the first). I can’t say enough about how well organized this race was. The Rock n Roll series of marathons is run by a corporation (Competitor Group, Inc) that I’m now referring to as the Starbucks of marathons. It’s all about branding, efficiency and consistency. I appreciate it when things run smoothly so I’d definitely consider doing another one of their races in the future.
Data
========================================
Cumulative Cumulative
Mile Split Time Pace
========================================
1 09:01.3 0:09:01.3 09:01.3
2 08:26.1 0:17:27.4 08:43.7
3 08:31.8 0:25:59.2 08:39.7
4 08:22.4 0:34:21.6 08:35.4
5 09:11.5 0:43:33.1 08:42.6
6 08:20.7 0:51:53.8 08:39.0
7 08:07.0 1:00:00.9 08:34.4
8 08:36.8 1:08:37.7 08:34.7
9 08:31.9 1:17:09.6 08:34.4
10 05:01.5 1:22:11.1 08:13.1
11 11:33.7 1:33:44.7 08:31.3
12 07:34.2 1:41:19.0 08:26.6
13 08:50.1 1:50:09.1 08:28.4
13.1 00:47.9 1:50:57.0 08:28.2
1:50:57.0
========================================
Overall place: 1506/15541 (90th percentile)
Gender place: 600/11339 (94th percentile)
Division place: 125/2089 (94th percentile)
1:50:57
I set a new personal best at Saturday’s Rock n Roll half marathon! I’ll post a full race report in a day or two.
Race Report: 2009 Beat the Bridge 8k
This morning I ran the 27th annual Nordstrom Beat the Bridge to beat diabetes 8k road race and set a new personal best! The race is so named because the University Bridge falls 2 miles into the race and the bridge is raised 20 minutes after the third and final wave starts the race. Anyone who lives in Seattle is familiar with the feeling of arriving late somewhere because you got stuck behind a raised bridge. Don’t worry, they do eventually lower the bridge and let the runners finish the race!
Pre Race
I arrived at Husky Stadium at about 7:20 am. My wave was scheduled to start at 8:40 so I had lots of time to pick up my bib, relax and warm-up. There are three main events during the morning with about 10,000 total participants. First, the 4 mile walk went off and then the 1 mile kids fun run. Then it was time for the 8k road race.
I was a little frustrated with the total lack of appreciation for the 8k wave start. I know I should be more zen about this but it drives me crazy! There were three waves based on your anticipated finish time: green (<35 min), white (35-40 min) and red (>40 min). I chose the red wave when I registered because my 8k PB was 40:53. Well I saw red bibs go out in the middle of the green wave! Sure a few people could have been put in the wrong wave but not the numbers I saw. It was a mess. My theory is that that the threat of not beating the bridge caused people to head out early. There were also no pace signs at the start. I lined up in the second row of the red start because that’s where I figured I belonged. Less than half a mile into the race I was passing people who’d inappropriately started in the white wave. OK vent over.
I wasn’t sure how well the course would be marked so I left my Garmin to auto-lap each mile.
Mile 1: 7:29 I was clearly a bit too fired up at the start and I went out way too hard. I did not enjoy running over the metal grating on the Montlake bridge. I’m not afraid of heights it’s just that the surface is made for car tires not running shoes! As I mentioned, I was passing people within half a mile. Still I felt OK but I had a hard time settling into any sort of a zone.
Mile 2: 8:01 There was a lot of congestion in this mile but I was finally able to settle into my goal pace.
Mile 3: 8:18 This mile began with the climb up the University Bridge. I started paying for my fast start and seriously thought I might be in trouble. I kept rolling though because I know that while hills aren’t my strength as long as I stay out of the red zone I can recover pretty well. The thought did cross my mind that if this was a 5k I’d be nearly done!
Mile 4: 8:12 (a little long) I started feeling the heat in this mile. It was probably only about 20C but there wasn’t much shade on the course and this was my first hard and hot run of the year. I’m not heat acclimatized but apparently neither was anyone else because people were removing layers all around me. I actually took about a 20 second walk break at a water stop to take a drink. I’m not sure if I needed the water or not but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Mile 5: 7:05 (a little short) I didn’t bother to look at my watch during the fourth or fifth mile so I had no idea how fast I was running. I just kept trying to focus on running at a comfortably hard pace. The section of the course behind the stadiums seemed to last forever because we took a round about way of getting into Husky stadium. I just kept thinking that I’d put too much effort in so far not to push all the way through the finish. There was one last short climb behind the football practice field and then I put on a kick into the stadium. I crossed the finish line, hit my watch and tried to stay vertical. I was shocked to see a finish time of 39:05 on my watch. Later I found that my official time was 39:03!
Post Race
I picked up a goody bag, some water and fruit and hung out in the stadium watching the rest of the racers finish. The picture above was taken about 15 minutes after I finished the race. I can only hope that the weather is this nice in four weeks when I’m back at the stadium for Commencement!
My official finish time of 39:03 (results) is a personal best by 1:50 over my 2006 Torchlight Run. That was my oldest standing PB which means that now the next in line to go down is my 10k PB of 54:02. I hope to destroy that some time in the fall.
There were some “technical difficulties” experienced with the timing chips. I think the mats at the start line failed meaning that they only have gun times for everyone. I’m not sure what that means for people who started in the wrong wave so I’m not going to report my percentile rankings. I am confident that my time is correct though.
The Rock n Roll Seattle half marathon is six weeks away. I have a recovery week and then four weeks of 30+ miles before the taper week. I’m feeling pretty optimistic about my current fitness. The half marathon starts at 7am which hopefully means that heat won’t be too much of an issue. Still I’m planning to get a few runs in during warmer temperatures just to be prepared.
Race Report: 2009 Mercer Island Half Marathon
Pre Race
Race weekend started on Friday evening with a steak dinner celebrating my sister Allison’s birthday. Steak isn’t exactly carbo loading food but I had enough mashed potatoes and chocolate cake to make up for that. Unfortunately, I had a fitful night of sleep on Friday which left me feeling a bit sluggish on Saturday morning. We had tickets to first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament Saturday evening. The games were at 5 and 7:30 pm and since the stadium doesn’t have the greatest selection of food we decided to have dinner in the mid afternoon. So I had raw veggies with dip and pizza at about 3:30 pm. Not exactly my usual pasta with tomato sauce but that’s OK. I had a better night’s sleep on Saturday night and was up at 6:40 am to have my standard oatmeal and banana pre race breakfast.
Dad picked me up at 7:30 am to head over to Mercer Island. We joked that it was like back when I was in high school and he and I would be up early on the weekends driving to who knows where to get to a basketball tournament! When we got to Mercer Island the traffic at the 77th Ave SE exit was backed up onto the highway! It took about 10-15 minutes but eventually we made our way into one of the race parking lots. I got myself organized at the car and then Dad and I walked about 10 minutes to the community center. I picked up my bib and chip, waited in a longish porta potty line and then Dad and I made our way over to the start. I lined up between the 8:00 and 9:00 min/mile pace signs and did some quick stretches before the gun went off.
The plan
I didn’t have much of a plan coming into this race. This was my eight official half marathon so I wasn’t too nervous about finishing. I just wanted to push myself and see what I could do without putting a lot of pressure on myself to get a PB or anything. Honestly, going into the race I was feeling good about my training but I wasn’t feeling like I was in PB form. I’ve been having problems with tight hamstrings and I wasn’t sure how that was going to affect me.
The Race
I really didn’t want to go out too hard and luckily the course was so congested in the first mile that this wasn’t a problem. I missed the first mile marker but averaged 8:42 over the first two miles. I was feeling OK early on in the race but at the same time I knew that dropping down to 8:23 (the pace for a 1:50:00 finish, my dream goal) just was not going to happen. Instead I decided to just run hard and see what would happen. There were a lot of winding turns along the east side of the island during the first 6 miles. I tried to run the tangents and avoid road sections with a steep camber but they really started to get annoying. I took my first walk break at 35 minutes during the fifth mile. We were running on one lane of E Mercer Way and the course was surprisingly congested. The density of runners didn’t impede me in any way but there were a lot of people around.
I was feeling OK, but not super, as we hit the bottom of the island and started heading back north. I knew the second half of the course was hillier than the first but since I hadn’t memorized the elevation chart I didn’t exactly know when the hills would come. We covered a number of small rolling hills which I felt that I handled reasonably well. At this point I’d decided that 8:40 min/mile would be a good target pace for me but I couldn’t quite get down there. Miles 7 and 8 were both done in 8:46. I was feeling my hamstrings/butt musles fatigue already. I wouldn’t say they really hurt but, as per usual, my legs were more tired than my lungs. I took my only gel of the race during a walk break at the 1:10 mark. This made my mile 9 come in at 9:02 which didn’t make me too happy. The highest point on the course came during the tenth mile which was also slow at 9:00. Hitting mile 10 means that the finish line is “just a 5K away” and I rode the downhills hard in this mile to come in at 8:27.
The biggest hill came during the twelfth mile and it was a beast. I’m sure it seemed worse because I was tired but it brought most of the runners near me to a walk. I only let myself walk for about 50 steps at one point and otherwise pushed myself up it. Then I tried to push through the last 1.1 miles but I was beat. There was a short incline just before the finish line that I didn’t very much appreciate. Fortunately there were lots of people lining the course and the cheering really helped in the last few hundred meters.
Post Race
I crossed the finish line in a chip time of 1:56:02. I immediately met up with Dad, Alli, Tim and Matt. My legs were shot but the rest of me felt OK within a few minutes. I ate a banana and half a bagel and then we started walking back to the car. I was quickly getting cold and all my warm clothes were in the trunk. Dad, Matt and I went out for a post race brunch at the Rusty Pelican in Wallingford. Usually I’m a sweet food brunch kind of girl but for some reason today I was craving savory so I had a veggie and eggs scrambler with potatoes and toast. Oh and of course coffee. We spent the rest of the day watching NCAA basketball on TV!
Final Thoughts
I really upped the speedwork and tempo runs during this training cycle so part of me is disapointed that I didn’t see that pay off with a faster finish time. I’m starting to think that doing both speedwork and a tempo run each week might just be too much for my legs. In the end though I’m pleased with my race result because I feel as though I gave pretty much everything I could on race morning and that’s all I can ask of myself.
Data
------------------------------------------------
Cumulative Cumulative Average
Mile Split Time Pace HR
------------------------------------------------
1 08:42.3 0:08:42.3 08:42.3 179
2 08:42.3 0:17:24.6 08:42.3 180
3 08:22.3 0:25:46.9 08:35.6 185
4 08:36.4 0:34:23.3 08:35.8 185
5 08:50.7 0:43:14.0 08:38.8 183
6 08:51.7 0:52:05.7 08:41.0 184
7 08:46.0 1:00:51.8 08:41.7 183
8 08:45.9 1:09:37.7 08:42.2 180
9 09:01.6 1:18:39.3 08:44.4 180
10 09:00.2 1:27:39.5 08:45.9 180
11 08:27.2 1:36:06.6 08:44.2 176
12 09:03.0 1:45:09.7 08:45.8 175
13.1 10:52.3 1:56:02.0 08:51.4 178
------------------------------------------------
Total 1:56:02.0 180
------------------------------------------------
Overall place: 820/1620 (49th percentile)
Gender place: 276/798 (65th percentile)
Division place: 61/144 (57th percentile)
[places are based on chip time and do not include walkers]
1:56:02
| NO | FN | LN | DIVISION | DIVPL | SEXP | CHIP TIME | TIME | PACE |
| 175 | Cecilia | Cotton | F3034 | 61/144 | 276 | 1:56:02 | 1:57:57 | 8:51 |
I had a decent run on a tough course. The complete results are here. I’ll post my full race report in a few days.
Race Report: 2009 Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K
This morning I ran the Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K at Green Lake. I previously ran this race in 2006 (27:35) and 2008 (24:30). The big change this year was that instead of only using the pedestrian path they actually shut down one lane of Green Lake Drive and used it for most of the route. This made the course marginally faster (no extra loop behind the community center to add mileage). My goal for the race was to run <25:00.
Pre Race
I picked up my bib and timing chip on Saturday so I didn’t have to worry about that on race morning. It was 1C and cloudy as I was getting ready so I chose to wear capris, a thermal long-sleeved shirt, running vest and gloves. The race was slated to start and 9:30 am so I planned to leave my apartment at 9:10 and run a one mile warm-up to the start line. At about 8:40 I tried to turn on my Garmin to take off the auto-lap function but it displayed a low battery warning. I’d charged it on Saturday so this was unexpected. I charged it for half and hour but as I went to leave the apartment it wouldn’t even turn on. Augh! Garmin Failure! I tried to remember how to reset it but I didn’t really have time so I just left it at home and made my way to the race. My warm-up was probably a little too quick but I made it to the start line about 8 mintues before the start. I lined up half way between the 7:00 and 8:00 min/mile pace signs and tried to relax and get some quick stretches in.
The Race
I was feeling a bit flustered at the start and since I didn’t have my Garmin I knew I was just going to have to run by feel. The gun went off and it only took a few seconds for me to cross the starting line. I took off hard, probably too hard, but there were supposed to be 2000+ runners in the race and I really didn’t want to get stuck behind a crowd. The course did run on the pedestrian path on the west side of the lake during the first mile but thankfully I had no crowding issues. By the time we got to Green Lake Drive I was hurting and we weren’t even at the first mile maker yet! Once I was into the second mile my goal was to just run at a controlled hard pace. Once I was into the third mile I started using mind games to maintain pace. My current favourite is counting steps in a ladder by 10′s up to 100. I was definitely being passed way more than I was passing people which made me think that I must have been slowing down substantially. I really didn’t know what pace I was running but I knew I wanted it to be over. We turned off Green Lake and onto the path towards the finish behind the Aqua Theatre. I ran hard through the finish. I didn’t get a good look at the clock but I could have sworn it said 23 something as I was running up towards it.
What? Did I just run sub 24? That’s ridiculous. No wonder I feel like I’m about to collapse!
Post Race
After the race was over I caught my breath, drank a bottle of water and ate an apple and a mini cupcake. I was hoping that they would post the race results and after about 10 minutes they finally came out. I found my name and it said I’d run 23:08! That’s a new personal best by 11 seconds. I walked away in shock. A few minutes later I had to go back and be sure that I’d read the results correctly!
I don’t have splits so I have no idea how evenly I ran the race. I actually think not having my Garmin helped me set a PB today. If I’d seen my pace I might have been tempted to let myself slow down since I was running way ahead of my goal. As it was I felt like I was running slowly (especially since I was being passed so much) so I tried really hard to maintain whatever pace I could. Setting a 5K PB wasn’t on my radar for this race or even this year so it’s a nice bonus. Hopefully it’s an indication that there are more PB’s (half marathon? 10K?) in my future!
Results
Time: 23:08
Pace: 7:28 min/mile
Overall place: 232 out of 2010 (88th percentile) [Places include walkers]
Division place: 18 out of 407 (95th percentile)
Gender place: 66 out of 1310 (94th percentile)
Full results are available here.
Race Report: 2008 Seattle Marathon
Pre Race
On race morning I woke up a few minutes before my 5:45am alarm was set to go off. I ate a breakfast of oats, banana, green tea and water while rechecking all the weather forecasts I could find online. It was unseasonably warm on race morning (8C with a high of 12C), foggy and rather humid. Contrast that to two years ago when it snowed! I got all my gear together and headed out to take the bus down to Seattle Center. I arrived at the start area at about 7:15 which was 15 minutes before the half marathon was scheduled to start and an hour before the marathon start. You know me, perpetually early for everything! Because I had so much time I decided to go to the indoor recovery area to relax and get organized.
I settled on wearing shorts, a long sleeved technical shirt and gloves to the start of the race. I dropped off my extra clothes at gear check and took a gel about 15 minutes before race start. There were just over 2000 marathoners so that start line wasn’t nearly as crowded as for the half marathon with over 7000 runners. I lined up between the 4:00 pacer and the 4:45 pacer. I was aiming for a 4:00 finish but I didn’t plan to run with the pace group and frankly I thought they were positioned too close to the front.
The race started on time and within about a minute I was across the start line on my way to running my second marathon!
First Half 1:58:15 (Downtown – I-90 – Lake Washington – Seward Park)
The first mile was not nearly as crowded as I’d expected. In fact I finished the first mile in 9:00 flat which was faster than the 9:09 pace I was aiming for. You can see the rest of my splits in the data section below. My focus for the first few miles was to settle into my goal pace and take things easy. I enjoyed the run through downtown and felt the climb up the I-90 express lanes was easier than I’d remembered. Also somehow all the walkers were in a different lane separated by a concrete barrier so there weren’t the same crowding issues I experienced two years ago during the half.
By mile 4 I’d warmed up significantly and decided to throw away my gloves. They were cheap gloves I’d gotten for free at a race last year so I wasn’t sad to see them go. I also took a gel/water break at this point. Throughout the race I stuck with my plan of a walk/water/Gatorade/gel break every two miles. Running across the I-90 bridge was like being in some kind of a sci-fi movie. It was so foggy that you couldn’t see Mercer Island or the lake and it looked like the bridge went to no where!
The first real indication that this wasn’t going to be the day that I beat 4 hours was during the eighth mile on the bridge heading back to Seattle. I was passed by the 4:00 pace group. I’d started behind them so I’m not sure when I passed them but now they’d caught back up to me. I could tell that they were a few minutes ahead of pace but I couldn’t hold with them and watched them slowly creep ahead and out of sight. I was still maintaining a good pace myself which is why I was happy to let them go but I was starting to wonder how long I could hold this up for.
I was happy to get off the I-90 bridge and off the concrete onto the relative softness of the Lake Washington Blvd asphalt. Somewhere along this stretch I saw my favourite t-shirt of the day. It read “My sport is your sport’s punishment.” Nice. Made me think of all the basketball pro-sprints I used to have to do! I also got to see the marathon leaders go by heading north while I was still running south.
I hit the half marathon point in Seward park in 1:58:15 which was great but in the end this quick first half would cost me dearly.
Second Half 2:12:04 (Lake Washington – Galer/Madison – Interlaken – Finish)
Looking at the pace graph and table below I started to steadily slow down starting at mile 15. My heart and lungs felt fine but my legs just couldn’t maintain the pace I’d put out in the first half. Knowing the course really helped though because I had a landmark at the top of every hill and I knew what I was aiming for. By the time I hit mile 17 I knew for sure that 4 hours wasn’t happening. My legs just did not have the turn over that I needed.
I then shifted into focusing on my secondary goal of setting a new personal best. I could feel myself fading and I realized that this race had become totally mental. I had to will my legs to keep moving. Mile 21 included the climbs up Galer and Madison and I was devastated to see it come in at 11:29. There was a gel/water break in there too but I really didn’t think I was running that slowly!
As I moved along through the arboretum and along Interlaken I encountered a new problem. Everywhere around me people were walking! It is so hard to keep running when the temptation of walking is all around you. I don’t remember seeing this many people walking when I ran in Ottawa so I’m going to attribute it to the hills. In fact despite the fact that my pace over the second half was over a minute per mile slower than during the first half I still passed 152 runners in the second half while only 82 passed me! I pretty much ignored my splits from this point on and just tried to keep moving forward and quickly as possible.
I can not tell you how much I hated the Mercer climb just before mile 26! It was agony. My legs were killing me and mentally I really just wanted it to be done. I did manage to put on a decent sprint to the finish once I got into the stadium though. My final chip time was 4:10:19 a personal best by 14:54!
Post Race
Once I crossed the finish line all I wanted to do was sit down but I made myself to keep moving for fear that my legs might seize on me otherwise. I had some water and chocolate milk and ate a banana but that’s all I was really interested in consuming for the time being. I recall immediately thinking “I’m only going to do half marathons for a while!” but imagine that will pass eventually.
Upon reflection I honestly don’t think that I hit the wall during the race. I feel good about my nutrition and hydration strategy and I was mentally focused the whole time. In the end I think it comes down to my leg strength. As the race progressed my legs got more and more fatigued and tight/sore. This is frustrating because I’ve known leg strength is a limitation for me for a while but I haven’t figured out how to deal with it yet. I also think that I went out too fast. Next time around I’d probably try and be more disciplined even if I’m feeling good and aim to run around 2:02 first half just so I have more energy saved for the second half. That strategy would probably work better on a course with a more even distribution of hills though as opposed to Seattle when they mostly come in the last six miles.
At the end of the day I’m very pleased with my finish time and with setting a new personal best. I hadn’t set a personal best yet in 2008 so this race was my last chance to show improvement! I still think I can do better though!
---------------------------------------------
Cumulative Cumulative Projected
Mile Split Time Pace Finish
---------------------------------------------
1 09:00 0:09:00 09:00.0 3:55:48.0
2 08:44 0:17:44 08:52.0 3:52:18.4
3 09:16 0:27:00 09:00.0 3:55:48.0
4 09:17 0:36:17 09:04.3 3:57:39.3
5 08:35 0:44:52 08:58.4 3:55:06.1
6 09:00 0:53:52 08:58.7 3:55:13.1
7 09:12 1:03:04 09:00.6 3:56:03.0
8 09:01 1:12:05 09:00.6 3:56:04.4
9 09:11 1:21:16 09:01.8 3:56:34.6
10 08:52 1:30:08 09:00.8 3:56:09.0
11 09:06 1:39:14 09:01.3 3:56:21.3
12 08:51 1:48:05 09:00.4 3:55:58.9
13 09:22 1:57:27 09:02.1 3:56:42.4
13.1 1:58:05
14 09:06 2:06:33 09:02.4 3:56:49.8
15 09:40 2:16:13 09:04.9 3:57:55.5
16 09:23 2:25:36 09:06.0 3:58:25.2
17 09:54 2:35:30 09:08.8 3:59:39.2
18 09:38 2:45:08 09:10.4 4:00:21.6
19 09:54 2:55:02 09:12.7 4:01:21.7
20 10:03 3:05:05 09:15.3 4:02:27.6
21 11:29 3:16:34 09:21.6 4:05:14.4
22 10:01 3:26:35 09:23.4 4:06:01.3
23 10:43 3:37:18 09:26.9 4:07:32.0
24 10:40 3:47:58 09:29.9 4:08:51.8
25 10:16 3:58:14 09:31.8 4:09:40.1
26 10:17 4:08:31 09:33.5 4:10:25.7
26.2 01:48 4:10:19 09:33.2
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Race Report: 2008 Victoria Half Marathon
Pre Race
Matt and I had the most stereotypical pre-race evening imaginable. We had a carbo load dinner of pasta with tomato sauce and steamed broccoli and then watched Spirit of the Marathon on DVD. I went to bed remarkably calm and not nervous. I think this was because this wasn’t an A race for me and I ran the race last year so I knew what to expect logistically.
I woke up at 5:30 am on Sunday morning and ate my usual pre-race breakfast of oats, half a banana, green tea and water. At 6:00 am I watched the start of the Chicago Marathon online and then at about 6:35 am I left Matt’s apartment for the 20-minute walk down to the start line. The weather was cool and cloudy so I wore shorts and a long sleeved technical shirt with a technical tank top underneath. I had lots of time at the race start to do a light warm-up jog, some stretching, eat a gel and still be in the starting corrals about 20 minutes before the race start. I lined up right in front of the 2 hour pace sign and waited to start my seventh half marathon!
I should mention that I finally (after almost two years) figured out the right screens to have displayed on my Garmin while I race. First I turn off auto-lap and hit the lap button on my own at each km marker. On my main screen I have Time (stopwatch time) in big and then below it Distance and Time – Avg Lap (average time to complete each lap so far). The last one is critical. If you use Pace – Avg Lap it will throw you off because the distance the Garmin measures is never exactly the same as the mile/km markers on the course and they’re what really count.
km 1-5 in 27:27 (5:29 min/km)
The announcer at the start told us that this year’s half marathon was the largest sporting event on Vancouver Island. I became acutely aware of this during the first mile of the course as I wove through slower runners and walkers. My first km came in a 5:56 and in hindsight that probably made me speed up a bit too much in subsequent km in an attempt to get down to 5:41. I missed the km 4 marker again this year as I was walking through a water stop. I felt pretty good through the first 5 km. I was pushing the pace comfortably and my legs felt good.
km 6-10 in 27:52 (5:34 min/km)
The second 5 km section was mostly run in circles in and around Beacon Hill Park. There were a few notable hills that I purposely slowed to climb. I don’t like getting passed on the uphills but I dislike destroying my legs even more. I forced myself to take a gel and a walk break at km 8 (mile 5) even though I was feeling good and didn’t want to stop. Towards the end of this section we turned onto Dallas Road and enjoyed a long decline. Unfortunately what went down would later have to come up!
km 11-15 in 28:02 (5:36 min/km)
As we turned off Dallas Road and into the neighbourhoods we could see the faster half marathoners coming at us. I am thrilled to report that there were no crazy crossing issues like last year. I think the problem was solved with extra pylons and “keep left” signs. After km 12 I look a walk/water break and decided to take off my long sleeved shirt and just wear the tank. Even though it was probably only 8C I was getting overheated! I’d purposely pinned my race bib to my shorts to give myself this option. Somewhere in this section there was a beer stop! I declined because I’m pretty sure my stomach would not handle that well! There was also a house playing Chariots of Fire on repeat which was great fun to run by.
km 16-20 in 28:02 (5:36 min/km)
By the time this section started I was definitely starting to tire. Although they didn’t really hurt my legs were protesting. They felt slow and tight especially up the hill next to Clover Point. I saw the marathon leaders go by and I tried to harness their focus and form! I took another gel and walk break at km 16 (mile 10) and from there I was focused on getting to the finish time. I was moving well but the last few km seemed to last forever. Fortunately I’m very familiar with this stretch of road so I was able to pick a series of landmarks to use as short term goals.
km 20-21.1 in 5:37 min
During the last 1.1 km I just kept telling myself to git ‘er done. I knew I was going to beat 2 hours handily by chip time. I put on a bit of a finishing sprint to beat 2 hours by gun time and crossed the finish line with a smile on my face. Hey, I did set a new age group PB!
Finish Time 1:57:00 (5:32 min/km or 8:55 min/mile)
Post Race
Immediately following the race I felt pretty good. But not so good that I would have been up for continuing and running another 13.1 miles! I’ve still got 7 weeks of training and the benefit of a taper to get me through the marathon. I averaged 8:55 min/mile which is a little faster that the 9:09 min/mile I’m going to need to break 4 hours in the marathon. Given the results of this half I’m not changing my primary goal but I have a very realistic idea what it’s going to take to get me there.
Place overall: 1664/4266 (61.0th percentile)
Place in gender: 697/2673 (73.9th percentile)
Place in age group (F3034): 114/375 (69.6th percentile)
Placing is based on gun time (1:59:43) and includes walkers.
1:57:00
=================================================================== Final Place Bib Gun Chip KM Place In Sex Place In Division No. Time Time Pace =================================================================== 1663 696/2479 F 114/362 Female 30-34 3694 1:59:43 1:57:00 5:33
Official results are here