Who Says You Get Slower As You Age?? Not I!

I can’t believe it is mid-November already. Time flies doesn’t it? Last weekend I ran in the Trenton Half Marathon and I can remember registering for this race back in September like it was yesterday.

Since my triathlon season is over for the year, I decided to focus on this race = train specifically for the 13.1 mile distance, taper and really go for a personal best time.  My goal was to run under 1 hr 33 mins and 57 secs (fastest time, which I ran back in 2011!). Ultimately I wanted to break the 1 hour and 33 minute mark which I thought was achievable given the 19:43 5K (and overall win) I ran two few weeks prior, in addition to the Crawlin Crab Half Marathon I did in early October (http://why-i-run.blogspot.com/2013/10/focus-breathe-believe.html). Oh and I was especially excited to spend the weekend with my parents!!

The morning of the race I had my ritual Kashi Go Lean cereal with soy milk, a bottle of water, and a can of Verve (Vemma).

I love my coffee but I prefer Verve (http://nilehenry.vemma.com) as my go-to energy source before races.

My brother turned me on to the Vemma products and I can honestly say that it is the only energy product that does not upset my stomach before, during, or after workouts and races. It contains natural caffeine = no jitters, no crash. Plus it's packed with vitamins, minerals, aloe and mangosteen. Check it out: http://nilehenry.vemma.com

Back to the race … After a chaotic morning… waiting for a shuttle to take us to the race, then deciding we’d drive instead.  We parked, I got out and realized that I had very limited time until the start of the race, freaked out, split from my parents for about 15 minutes to get a good warm up in. We met back up, waited on the endless port-o-potty line and headed over to the starting area (half marathon start time: 8 am; 10K start time 8:30 am).

Dad and I at the start of the race!

 

Me looking a little too happy to be running 13.1 miles.

The first mile caught me by surprise. I was under the assumption that it was going to be a flat course.…nope. Up and down the highway ramps we went. I had planned to go out conservatively, start out at 7:15 pace and gradually work my way down to 7:05/7:00-minute pace. Instead I went through miles (1) 7:08, (2) 6:56, and (3) 6:49 much faster than I planned… not on purpose. I didn’t even look at my watch (which by the way is a Garmin Forerunner. Present from my Dad. Best thing since sliced bread). I just ran by feel. And I’m glad I didn’t look because I probably would have freaked out (which happened a little later on in the race). Miles (4) 6:57 and (5) 6:47 came and went. By mile 6 I decided to glance at my watch and that’s when I realized how fast I was running (this is the freak out moment I was referring to) so I decided to back off and pray that my body wouldn’t give out on me. Miles (6) 7:08, (7) 7:12, (8) 7:11, and (9) 7:14.

We crossed the "Trenton Makes, World Takes" Bridge into Pennsylvania.

By mile 10 I felt surprisingly good so I decided to really go for it and race to the finish line…. miles (10) 6:50, (11) 6:47, (12) 6:39, and (13) 6:33. Official finish time: 1:31:10 (6 min, 57 sec average mile pace).

We finished in the Trenton Thunder Baseball Stadium. We circled the outfield, made our way to third base, and then crossed home plate/finish line.

Do I think I can run faster? Definitely! Looking back at miles 6 thru 9, I question whether I should have slowed down. I felt good. Perhaps if I stuck with the quicker pace I would have ran a faster time. But who knows. From personal experience I think it’s better to leave a little extra in the tank and finish strong versus blowing up with a few miles to go. It is also obvious that hills are my weakness. I think on a flatter course I can maintain a faster pace. And lastly I think I lost a few seconds during the last quarter-mile of the race – the half marathon and 10k finish at the same spot which meant there was quite a bit of ducking and weaving and a minor collision (I nearly knocked a women down L).

For the most part, I can honestly say I was cool, calm and collected, but of course there are always moments in a race where a few negative thoughts creep in. Mine are usually, “damn, another hill”, “where is the effing finish line”…very unlady like, I know, but I’m just being honest. On the flip side, this is when mental tricks really come in handy like repeating positive mantras (i.e. “you’re strong”, “believe in yourself”, etc), focusing on your form (relax the arms, slow deep breaths), and of course knowing that you aren’t really suffering in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure I don’t know the first thing about true suffering so I always try to keep that in mind and remember those who are truly battling with diseases, poverty, lost limbs, death, and so on.

A few months ago I made a promise to myself that I would find moments to stop and enjoy these types of events….soooo here are my top 5 most memorable moments from the race:

5)    Seeing the expression on my Father’s face as I applied mascara in the hotel room before the     race…. gotta look good for the camera.

How's my mascara??

4)    Security checking my Dad for bombs (and God only knows what else) and completely ignoring   his friend Brendan who could easily pass for a relative of the Boston Marathon Bomber (no joke). Racial profiling at races? I hope not!

3)    Seeing the clock at the finish line and knowing that I dropped over 2 ½ minutes from my               personal best time.
2)    Hanging out with my Dad and Brendan (whose wife was running her first half marathon) in the bleachers after the race.
1)    And by far, the highlight of the day was seeing my Mom cross the 10K (6.2 miles) finish line         (twice the distance she has ever raced) with a huge smile on her face. It was exciting and I was proud J

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there wondering why on earth I would want to run 13.1 miles. In fact, I’ve been asked that question many times and I always have a hard time coming up with a direct answer. But there’s just something about being one in a sea of people (in this case, 3,000) with various goals (raise money for charity, lose weight, run faster, do something they’ve never done before). And the fact is, no matter where you finish, in front, somewhere in the middle or at the end of the pack, it is such an incredible feeling of accomplishment when you cross the finish line. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all smiles and laughter. Of course I have had plenty of races where I feel like crap and wonder why I’m out there torturing myself. But once it’s all said and done, I’m proud of myself for lacing up my shoes, toeing the line, and toughing it out. I guess we each get something different out of it and you’ll never know unless you try J

Next up on my race calendar:

·         Nov 23th: 5K (3.1 miles). Goal: Break 19 minutes and 30 seconds (current fastest time: 19:33).

·         Dec 8th: 8K (4.97 miles). Goal: break 33 minutes (current fastest time: 33:37).

·         Jan 19th: 5K

·         And….drumroll…maybe a winter marathon in February or March!

You only get one body. Treat it good and enjoy the holidays!

Focus, Breathe, Believe…

…I spotted those words on a spectator’s poster about 4 miles into the Crawlin Crab Half Marathon on Sunday and they stuck with me through the race.

Now if you know anything about me and my running, you know that the half marathon and I don’t get along. In fact, I swore off racing them after my last experience in March of this year at the Shamrock Half Marathon in which I ran a 1:37 after weeks of training. I left that race frustrated, defeated, miserable and sore. And unfortunately it was one in a string of 13.1-mile races that I’ve done over the past few years that ended on a sour note. Each for different reasons …going out too fast, not eating enough the day before, overtrained, poorly paced, not properly tapered, and so on. I finally had enough and decided to walk away from the distance and racing in general….

… then the triathlon came into my life J And now my focus has shifted from run, run, run to swim, bike, run. I love the variation and I love the newness (is this a word lol). Not that running has taken a backseat. It definitely hasn’t. I just look at it differently – it’s just one piece of the puzzle.

Back to the race…

My goal was to go out conservative (7 min 30 sec pace) and steadily work my way down to 7 min pace, with every 3 miles getting faster. I DID NOT want to start feeling ANY discomfort until after the 10-mile marker. I didn’t want there to ever be a point in the race where I considered walking, dropping out, slowing to a jog…none of it. I wanted to feel comfortable, trust my fitness level and hopefully finish around 1 hour and 35 minutes. Looking back, it’s a little funny that I was so confident I could hit that time considering how much I struggled just to run a 1:37 half marathon earlier in the year. But my recent triathlon training and win at the Heart of Ghent 10K let me know that I was in shape to comfortably run 7:15 pace. Oh and last but not least, I wanted to enjoy the race…take in the scenery, the crowd, and just be thankful to be out there doing what I love.

Race day… I got to the race about 40 minutes before the start time. Spotted a few friends, laughed, pretended like I wasn’t about to run 13.1 miles (lol), went for a light jog just to wake up the legs and then headed over to the start area. Lucky for me I ran into a friend who typically runs around the same pace as me. In fact, he was getting over an injury and planned to start off conservatively. Bingo! Stick with him the first few miles.

Typical countdown, gun start and we were off. The first mile at a large half marathon, and by large I mean more than 2,000 runners, is typically a little crazy. Not triathlon swim, kicked in the face/people swimming over you crazy. But crazy enough that you get jostled around a little..some bumping here and there since everyone is so tightly packed. Plus, trying to find a rhythm while staying clear of others isn’t that easy when there are a few people one step in front of you, behind you and on each side. But after the first mile the race usually begins to string out and it’s more manageable to establish your space.

First 5 miles went like this: 1) 7:26, 2) 7:05, 3) 7:05 (grabbed some Gatorade), 4) 7:16, 5) 6:55 (more Gatorade). I felt relaxed and focused but the sun was out in full affect and the temperature started rising. I think it ended up reaching 85 degrees during the race (85 in October…ridiculous). Keeping the weather in mind I decided to grab water at mile 7 and dumped the cup over my head in attempt to keep my body from overheating. I didn’t care that I looked like a wet rat, I just wanted to comfortably maintain my pace. Miles 6) 7:15 and 7) 7:06 were pretty steady. Then I heard a spectator yell “good job, top 10 woman”). Of course this sparked the little competitor in me so I began to look for ponytails in the distance. And there they were, two women down the road and they looked like they were slowing. Thoughts …. the heat is starting to get to people, if I can maintain my pace I should comfortably get under 1 hour and 35 minutes, and I might be able to pick off a woman or two.

Miles 8) 7:13 and 9) 7:14 went by pretty fast. I caught up to the two women I had spotted earlier and we ran together to mile 10. At this point, I was still feeling pretty strong and knew I would have to run a little faster if I wanted to place higher so I threw in a 7:04 mile and it worked. Unfortunately, my legs didn’t really like that. Who knew running 10 seconds faster would take so much out of you?

The last three miles were more or less a mental game – it ranged from “I’m tired, I kind of want to stop. It wouldn’t be so bad if I slowed down a little” to “shut up you idiot, you already ran 10 miles, you only have 3 left and you know you don’t feel that bad.” I got through miles 11) 7:15 and 12) 7:15 and then there was a demoralizing uphill finish (seriously who thought it was a good idea to stick a hill in at the last mile?!?). My last mile (6:58) ended up being one of my fastest and I crossed the finish line in 1 hour 34 minutes 19 seconds. I won my age group (25 – 29) and was the 6^th female out of 1,428 women. 

This might be the only time I have ever smiled after a half marathon.

Overall it was a good day. The race was very well organized, I ran into a few friends (literally), I surpassed my time goal, I felt great, and most importantly I really enjoyed myself out there.

 

I treated myself to a little gift which I put to good use that night J