I ran a half marathon today. It was my first (real) road race since the marathon. Yes, I did the Turkey Trot, but that was just for fun and was last minute and just didn't have the impact that these other races had on me, so I'm putting it in the 'just for fun' category. Today was the Decker Challenge Half Marathon, and is known as the hardest, hilliest half in Austin. I had been hearing for weeks from my running group, Al's Ship of Fools, about how hard the course was, how many hills there were, the giant hill at mile 10..... It had been talked up big, and I was hoping, like what happens so often with movies that are talked up, that it wasn't going to be all that it was made out to be.
But it turns out that it was.
It was a grueling course, extremely hilly - relentless hills - and a finishing chute that lasted F-O-R-E-V-E-R. That is how Decker always is. This year, though, had the distinction of also falling on a particularly hot and humid day - 70 degrees at the start and 97% humidity. Those are some sweaty, slowing conditions, and because of all this, the hilliness, the heat, the humidity, I really had no idea what a reasonable goal time for me was. I did the Austin half in February in 1:45, but I know I'm a lot stronger and faster now (thanks largely to my awesome running group's speed and hill workouts), BUT, this course is harder, and then there was the weather.....
I flip-flopped back-and-forth about what my goal should be - just to PR, sub-1:40, 7:30/mile, forget about time and try to run negative splits, just go out and race by feel...... At the start of the race, I had settled on my main goal being to PR with an extra bonus goal of sub-1:40, though, I wasn't 100% sure that that was what I wanted my goal(s) to be still. (Note to self: have race goal figured out before toeing the line)
It started to get interesting around mile 7, and by interesting, I mean difficult. The hills got bigger, steeper and longer, and by mile 10, where the giant hill that everyone had talked about was, I was nearly out of inner will to keep pushing. Knowing, though, that mile 10 was the last 'big' hill, I forged on. Some of the volunteers had written in chalk all up the hill - things like 'Power Up', 'Dig Deep', 'You Are Strong' and so on. They were written every 20 feet or so, and they really, really helped. Instead of gazing up the hill and getting deflated by the distance that I still had to cover before cresting, I just looked forward to the next bit of writing and so took the hill in little parts instead of all at once, all the while repeating those phrases over and over in my head. In fact, I kept them in there during the last three miles after the hill when it got really mentally difficult to keep moving.
Somehow, I made it up that hill without walking - actually without falling off my pace too terribly much. That's one big difference from trail running. When you hit a giant hill in trail running, you power walk it. Now, the giant hills in trail are often much steeper and sometimes longer and covered in rocks, but it's perfectly acceptable, expected even to power walk them. In road races, however, walking isn't used as a strategic move like it is in trail running, and I was bound and determined to not walk at all. Somehow, I made it without having to, and at the top of the hill were more friends, Courtney and Joe, at the 10-mile water station. I'm pretty sure if I spoke at all, it was something fairly incoherent, but I do know that I was very excited to see them there whether they were able to tell or not. It's such a boost to hear anyone cheer for you, and especially so when it's good friends who shout out your name when you're feeling pretty beat up.
Somewhere around mile 10, the 1:40 pace group passed me. I cursed myself a little for being stupid in the beginning and not going with my gut and starting out slower, but there was no point in getting upset about it now, so I just tried to hang with them for as long as I could. They started to pull more and more away from me and eventually got out of sight.
The last three miles were grueling. Even though there were no more 'big' hills, there were still plenty of rolling ones, and unlike the first 6 miles when these rolling hills didn't affect me too much, every one of these seemed like Mt. Kilimanjaro this time around. But, the worst part had yet to come. The last turn off the road and back onto the event center grounds indicated to me that the race was almost over. I had come to the home stretch, the final push, just a little bit more to go......That was a lie. It was the L.O.N.G.E.S.T. finishing chute I have ever had to run through. It was quite literally, at least 3/4 mile long. Every little turn, you caught a glimpse of the finish line and thought, 'okay, just around the next bend.....oh, nope, but it must be just around the next one......nope, not there either.....' for 3/4 of a mile. It just would not end. And I was hurting - bad. When I passed the water station after the giant hill at mile 10, my friends shouted to me that I was in 7th place or so. Between there and this 'final stretch', one girl had passed me. When finally, I actually was about 600m away from the finish, another girl passed me. I heard her come up and started to push harder to hold her off, but I just didn't have it in me, and I actually got scared for a minute that I might not make it to the finish line.
Last weekend, there was a special event run at a local running store and elite trail runner Scott Jurek came and ran with everyone and then held a Q and A session after. One lady asked him about the phenomenon of how it was somewhat common (not that it happens a lot, but enough to notice that it does) of people collapsing just before a finish line and what he thought about that. He responded by saying that he thinks that what happens is that people give it all in the race, and when they finally see the finish line, their mind tells the body, 'Okay. We're here. You can stop now.' Well, I felt this happening to me just a couple hundred meters from the finish. I was finally there. I wanted more than anything else in the world to stop, and I saw the finish, and I actually felt for a second that my legs were going to give out on me, and that I was going to just collapse right there. Then, I thought about that lady asking that question and told myself that I had to run to the building so as to see past the finish line in the hopes of being able to get myself there. I guess it worked, because I crossed the finish line a few seconds later. I always try to sprint at the end of a race no matter the distance, and I tried today, but I have a feeling that from outside looking in, I probably did not at all look like I was sprinting.
I finished and immediately had to grab the fence after the finish line. I thought for a while that I might pass out. People were asking me if I was okay, and a woman was trying to help me continue through the chute, though, I had to stand there holding on for a minute. I finally got the wherewithal to get myself away from the crowd and I found a spot in the parking lot to sit down for a while until my head stopped spinning. I also finally checked my time 1:42 (7:44/mile). It wasn't the 1:40 I was shooting for, but it was a new half marathon PR, and it was a grueling course on a humid, humid day, so I was happy.
I wandered inside and got a banana and some water - still not very sure-footed, still having people ask me if I was okay and trying to offer me food and things that might help. Even a banana at this point was making me nauseous, though, I knew I needed it, so I forced it down. A few minutes later, I ran into a friend, Adam, from my other running group (Synergy Running) who had also had a grueling but good run. We went to go check our results, and lo-and-behold, I had won my age group! So, maybe I had done alright, then. I mean, I was already happy with the PR, but to win my age group was an added, unexpected bonus (not to mention it came with a $35 gift certificate to Rogue Running!)
Final results:
1st/88 in my age group
11th/529 female
99th/1029 overall
My per mile pace was nearly what my super-secret (but I guess not so secret since I'm writing it here) goal is for the Austin full in February (3:20 - can't believe I just put that in writing), which worries me a bit seeing as how I literally left it all out there on the course today and could not have in any way, shape or form run another 13 miles at that speed. BUT, I'm not losing hope because a) there is still a good bit of time to train, b) this was an exceptionally difficult course, and the hills were laid out differently than the way they will be in the full and c) there were exceptionally difficult weather conditions today, so I have confidence that I still, at least, have a shot at that goal.
As for today, it was hot, humid, hilly and hard, but in retrospect, I had a hell of a time and will be riding today's high for a few days to come at least.
