RACE REVIEW:CHEAP 1/2 MARATHON

For the past few months, in regards to training, I've been working on getting faster and thus not focusing on the marathon for the first time in like, eight or nine years.  It's very different for me and it feels kind of strange to not be thinking about 26.2 miles all the time.  But, I'm not missing all the 20+ milers that I have been slogging through cycle after cycle and year after year, so I'm good with it.  Three weeks ago, I ran the New Bedford half.  I did fine.  Not great, not bad.  My "goal" race, the one I put on the calendar last fall as my main event for the spring, is in May.  After NB I asked my coach if I could squeeze another half in between March and May.  I just felt like I needed more practice at running hard at goal pace and since I didn't have a marathon to taper for it made sense.  He agreed.  So, I signed up for the Cheap 1/2 marathon up in Amesbury, MA.  I did the full last year and it was a great event.  It's also cheap, so that's a bonus.  My training has being going pretty well over the last few weeks and my coach has definitely been ramping things up a bit in preparation for the May race.  Last week, in particular, was intense with a long run on Monday, a very tough workout on Wednesday followed by a second run in the afternoon, and a 10 miler on Friday.  I emailed Lowell mid-week asking him if he didn't feel like the work load was a bit too intense given that I was running the half on Sunday.  Are we not going to taper a little, I asked?  No, he said, I wasn’t planning on it. Was just going to test your fitness on tired legs.  The half marathon in a month is a bigger focus for us. Well all righty, then.  I was sufficiently toast by Friday but I had Saturday to recover and was psyched to see what I could pull off on tired legs.  Sort of psyched.  You know what I mean.

The race start was at 7:00am and the drive was an hour North, so I had to get up at 5:00 on Sunday morning.  That was so rough.  The Winchester Starbucks opens at 5:00am.  I was stupidly happy about that.  About halfway up, I believe I mumbled something like, I am never getting up this early again for a race that isn't my 'main gig' again.  Ever.  But then, I arrived as the sun was coming up over the water.  It was hard not to be floored by how beautiful it was.  So, that might have changed my mind.  Well, it did at that moment.  Not sure about long term.  Rather than focus on how tired I was, and the fact that it was only 38 degrees outside, I made a conscious decision to embrace the situation and make the most our of the morning.

The above photo is me trying to do this.  I'm trying very hard.  I walked over to the tent and grabbed my bib from my friend, Eli Bailin, also the Greenstride race director.  He's always so damn peppy in the morning.  I don't know how he does it.  

I dropped my stuff back off at car and made my way out for a quick warmup.  After two miles, I was legitimately heating up, which I was very happy about, so I ditched all my layers, deciding not to wear the arm warmers that I'd been planning to race in.  I got all my gear together and headed to the start where I grabbed a quick shot with the great Michael Grenier, Eli's trusty race MC who's just bursting with positive energy from the second he gets going.  I always look forward to hearing him do his thing.

THE RACE:
Much like last year, it was a small group of runners, so we all stepped up to the line and were sent off with a Ready, Go! right at 7:00.  Okay, so once again, my goal pace for this race was 6:35 or to stay within the range of 6:30-6:40.  You guys are probably getting sick of hearing this by now.  I kind of am.  Right off the bat, I settled in and crossed the first mile in exactly 6:35.  Never happens.  The next couple miles felt good and I was holding steady in my goal range if not a little faster, so I was psyched.  I crossed the first lap, which was 4.5 miles, at 28:42, so I was averaging 6:23 at that point.

As I started my second lap, I was staying in the 6:20s territory and I was feeling ok with it.  So I decided to hold on and see if I could do something special.  And then my headphones cut out.  The music was continuing to play very lightly out of the phone, but I must have forgotten to charge my Jaybirds because not matter how much I messed with the buttons they weren't coming back on.  Instantly, the wind was taken out of my sails.  I tried to forget about it.  But I just couldn't.  I really need music for a distraction.  I'm admittedly dependent on it.  So, knowing I had 9 more miles to go with just my own breathing, well, I was really bummed.  I attempted to convince myself that this was one of those Micheal Phelps moments, you know, when his coach purposely fogs up his goggles or loses them during practice so things don't go smoothly and Phelps has to hold it together despite the chaos.  But, I could also feel my pace sliding, almost like I had no control over it.  Right then, I took the PR off the table, hoping to relieve some pressure, and told myself to just run hard, get a good workout in, and do the best I could given the situation.  At mile 7ish, three of us slowed down, not sure whether to turn or go straight.  After we figured it out, one of the guys, I'd later learn his name was Kalliman, started chatting with me.  He asked if I was doing Boston and using this as a training run.  I told him that I was but that I was guiding for Team With A Vision.  Oh man, that is so cool, he said.  I want to do that.  Can you tell more more about it?  So, I did, well as best as I could given our effort.  When we first started talking, he'd mentioned that he was trying to run around a 1:26/27, so I decided to just use him as a pacer and to stop looking at my watch.  The next thing I knew, we were crossing into our third and final lap.  And, oddly, we kept talking.  I have never done this before during a race when pushing hard.  I mean, yes, it was kind of broken up a bit as I was still working hard and breathing heavily, but it honestly felt good to talk.  It was like I needed the distraction and though I was probably running a little slower, it was helping me focus the way my music typically does, so I just kept at it.  He told me all about his past roles as a pacer, some of the amazing race experiences he's had with runners who were trying to reach their goals.  We realized that we're both running Chicago in the fall, so we talked goals and strategies. I mean, it was just flowing and felt totally natural.  And then we were finished.  We crossed together in 1:27:22.  Which, given all that had happened and how the second half of the race had unfolded, I was very pleased with.  Who would've thought?

Could I have pushed harder?  Definitely.  Could I have PR'd?  Who knows.  And, as my coach reminded me after the fact, it doesn't really matter because I get to try again in a month.  The win here is that despite the early setback, I was able to pull myself together, work with what I had and get it done.  And, do it pretty well all things considered.  And, the best part?  I had such a great time running with Kalliman (fun fact, we already followed each other in Instagram) and working together as we chatted to run a solid race.  Well, I should give him the credit.  He did most of the work.  But still.  If there is one thing I've learned from all my years of racing it's that something always goes wrong on race day.  Always.  Weather is bad, music doesn't work, can't find something, coffee guy doesn't show up when he's supposed to (still bitter).  Seriously, there is always at least one thing that throws us off.  And all we can do is adapt and make the most of it.  Which is often really hard to do.  And sometimes it doesn't pan out.  But once in a while, it does.  And that's kind of what it's all about, right?  It's what makes us better at this whole racing thing, so that when push comes to shove, we can rise above it and get shit done.  So, I'm not going to dwell on it.  Once again, I've banked the pros and cons.  And I'm ready for the next one.  Giddy up.

Listen to this:

Late To The Party - Savoir Adore