I’m back.

Here’s the dirt, corrected since my Facebook post:
1:34:40
277/8404 OA
60/5369 F
5/387 AG (awards go 5-deep so apparently I won something)

Today was major, major.  No PR (you all know I wasn’t shooting for one) but the way it played out couldn’t have been better.

Saturday
was a day for my 2 favorite race roomies to arrive at the Blue Hovel: Audra and Kat.  We went to the Expo, had a huge dinner of my new favorite pre-race meal: mushroom cheeseburger and sweet potato fries.  Kat and I kept worrying about what to wear since the weather was going to be 33 windchill (turned out to be a perfect 42 degrees).  I ended up in a light longsleeve, capris and throwaway gloves.

The race plan
was to not have a plan.  7:12s.  That was all I was thinking.  I knew there were 3 hills in this race and that I’d run up ‘em slower, but I’m finally recognizing that I’m good at downhills, so as long as what goes up goes down, I figured I’d be ok.

I didn’t even work out a single split in advance to write on my hand, no “where I should be at 5K, 10K, etc”.  I am where I am when I get there.

The Corral Crazy
I park myself in the back of the first corral and while waiting, get into a strange conversation with a super skinny girl who is shivering uncontrollably, though dressed in 2 shirts, tights, hat and gloves.  I rub her arm exclaiming “You’re freezing!” which starts her talking non-stop, eventually getting to this:

“I should probably be farther back because I’m going slower than when I signed up”
Me: “what are you aiming for?”
Her: “was going for a 1:35 but am going for 1:45 now”
Me: “yeah, you should move back”
Her: something I can’t understand and “…I have a stress fracture in my foot right now but…” more wacky talk I can’t understand
Me: [finally realizing girl is a nut-job, surreptitiously finds another place to stand]

Salvation In Balloons
My first mile is slow, around 7:31 but I’m cool with it, I want to remain calm and collected today.  In that mile, I can see the 3:10 pace group ahead of me and while it hadn’t occurred to me to go with a pacer, I recognize the leader is PacerChris from the Runners World forums.  Cool.  Since I’m going for 1:34:xx, I realize I can stick with the group and then at the end make a break for it, since Half of 3:10 would be 1:35 and I figure he’s going to be close to that at the Half.

This turns out to be a smart decision.  The Garmin is unreliable downtown so I tend to worry about pace in the initial miles and having a group to focus on was brilliant for keeping my thoughts neutral. Additionally, 3:10 was almost all men going for their BQ, so having marathoners around doing their more comfortable pace helped me stay comfortable as well.  And did I mention it was almost all men? ;-)

I was so focused on sticking with those guys, I didn’t even pay attention to any mile markers till I eventually left the group.  (I noticed my first mile marker at mile 10, lol).  Also, the uphills that really bothered me last year were suddenly not so heinous, maybe it’s the group mentality but it was a major confidence boost.

The downside of the group was that it was quite large and I didn’t do well on tangents because I was more intent on staying as close to the guys as possible, which required more weaving than I’d have done on my own.  Also, when I did the water stops (which went quite well today, my second time going bottle-less) it was a little anxiety-driven of “must not let them get ahead” but at the same time “must drink properly”.

On My Own Again
Around mile 8.5 or so, I saw that sweet downhill just waiting for me, so I decided to make a break for it.  My thought was that the pace group would probably catch back up to me on the last uphill but I hoped they wouldn’t.  And they didn’t!  It was also lovely having all that space suddenly around me instead of all those heels and legs so close.

Now that I was on my own and reveling in the fact that everything was working so well, I had no idea how fast I was going since I hadn’t been paying attention to the markers, but when I finally synced it back up at mile 10, lovely low 7s showed up.  This was wonderful!

On top of this and even more happy-making was that my breath was unusually good for the whole race.  No labored or embarrassing loudness (which is my usual M.O. even when not on the verge of collapse).  I felt more in control and strong than I’ve ever done in a Half.

I make it up the last and worst hill and as I wend my way around on the flat, can’t wait to cruise the final downhill to fly out onto the last 2.5 mile stretch.  From that point to the end, my thoughts are “hold on, just keep feeling this way, you don’t have to go faster, just hold on.” Amazingly, as the distance dissolved, instead of my usual “how much longer, am I almost done yet?!” it was “wow, it’s almost over already!”  Sure, I was ready to be done, but I wasn’t dying to be done.

Gels & Water Stops
I brought 2 gels, and had one at mile 6ish but when it came time for the 2nd, I opted for a few sips of Gatorade instead because I didn’t want to deal with the packet.  I used 3 water stops total, the first one I walked a few steps to make sure I drank the entire cup (because I’d just had that gel) but the next two were less thorough.

Finish
The coolest part of the finish was that a friend of mine, Kev, a local runner dude who puts on races around here and is an all-round sweet guy, was the volunteer who put the finisher’s medal around my neck!  That was extra special.

Final Thoughts
I went for 7:12′s and got 7:13′s.  Since I hit the lap button at mile 10, I know for a fact (assuming that marker was placed correctly) that I finished the final 3.1 in 21:58…that’s 7:05′s!  This is huge for a gal whose Indian name should be Girl Who Dies At End Of Races.

Add to this that today’s course was harder than the PR race yet I ran it more comfortably, indicates that I am indeed back in PR shape!  Not to say “I could’ve PRd if only…”  I needed that pace group today, I needed to feel what a racing body should feel like at the right effort. I needed the way this day went.  It was perfect.

I still don’t think I’m the greatest racer and if left completely to my own devices, I’d have had some anxious moments and very likely been slower during those first few miles, but I can learn and improve.  The main thing is that the fitness is there and I’m on the upswing.  The shit 14 months are over.  I’m back.

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