Our weekend was consumed by the sport of running. We timed a race on Saturday and ran a half marathon on Sunday.
The race we timed was a bit of a mess pre-race. We had people on the registration tables that had no experience with it which always is a recipe for problems. The funniest moment of the morning was when a panicked looking man and his pregnant wife approached Ali and I.
He pulled on the door of the bank building behind us, hoping it was open so his wife could use the bathroom. We told him the building was locked and we had no access to it. He said his wife HAD to go to the bathroom and the lines for the four port-potties was 20 people deep. We told them that they were the only facilities on site.
The were not happy and scurried away, unhappy that we didn’t have dedicated pregnant woman bathrooms available. I am pretty sure that if they went over to the port o potties and explained the urgency someone would have let her cut in line.
The race actually had a big bump in participation from the year before which is always nice to see. Timing of the event went smoothly.
Usually when we get home from a race Ali wants to hit bed in short order. This time she actually stayed up and helped me quickly knock out the chores that needed to be done before we BOTH laid down to nap. I broke my normal no nap edict to ensure that lack of rest would not be an issue leading up the race on Sunday. We napped for a long time, 1pm to a little after 4.
The other thing I tried to do throughout the day Saturday was hydrate. I drank much more water than I normally would. We topped off our prep with a spaghetti dinner Saturday night.
We left our house at 5am Sunday morning to head up for the race which was about 40 miles away. I managed to actually miss a turn and wound up paying a toll to cross a bridge before I realized my mistake, dumb ass.
Once we got on site we grabbed our stuff which included a bag with various handouts, the race shirt and the bib which doubled as the timing device. Of course since I am a bonafide race timer myself I was interested in the bib timing set up. The back of the bib has two small RFID devices affixed. I believe they also have tiny little batteries in them that increases their broadcast range so they can be picked up by mats on the ground.
This method of timing has a lot of advantages like runners only have to stand in one line on race day instead of one to sign in and another to get their timing device. Also these bibs are one use devices that are intended to be thrown away after each race, eliminating the need for personnel to collect and organize them post race.
Of course there are draw backs as well, mostly cost and prep time. Each and every race you need to buy a new set of timing bibs and program them. This adds a considerable amount of expense to a race.
We ran into a number of people from our running club pre-race. A half marathon will draw people from a much wider radius than a 5K.
There was a very funny moment pre-race. The lines for the port a potties were long as they always are. No runner wants to have to feel like they need to relieve themselves once the race starts. It is pretty customary to make sure you are empty before a race.
Well evidently one of the lines wasn’t moving for a loooong period of time. Evidently whomever was in this one toilet was having a lengthy/difficult/messy BM. (something I would NEVER do at a race) Well one of the guys in the line just lost his patience. He marches up to the port a john, bangs on the door while yelling “Hey! Are you still alive in there??!!” Of course he got not reply. After another minute or two an obviously embarrassed man exited from the unit without making eye contact with any of the crossed leg, crotch grabbing members of the line he was holding up.
Finally the race start approached. The crowd of 800+ runners walked a couple blocks down to the start line. The race actually had a chip start as well, something we have talked about doing but have not to this point due to added expense. A chip start means there is a set of timing lines you run across in the beginning to START your personal time. Otherwise, your official gun time would not reflect the 30 seconds you shuffled along until you actually crossed the start.
Ali repeatedly warned me that I should not go out gangbusters early on. There is nothing worse than bonking (hitting the wall) early in a long race because you went out too fast. Ali, Christy and Michelle had agreed ahead of time to just “jog” the race instead of run it hard so they could all finish together.
I went out at a steady pace that I felt I could maintain. Early on it was starting to feel quite humid, my sunglasses kept fogging up which was annoying the shit out of me. Eventually I flipped them up on top of my head and left them there.
The course was very scenic, twisting back and forth through neighborhoods early on. There were a couple pleasant surprises like the band of young kids playing rock in someone’s front yard to pump up the runners. I thought that was f’in great and held my thumb up in approval as I ran by.
There were also a decent amount of spectators/volunteers out watching/directing the runners, offering their support. I tried to thank as many of them as I could as I passed by.
One of the things I wanted to make sure I did during the race was not run out of fuel. I chose to grab Gatorade at every water stop instead of water for the additional caloric intake. I was also thrilled when they were handing out Chocolate flavored Goop around the half way point. It tasted good and gave me a nice little burst of energy.
There were a couple key parts of the race. The 7 mile mark was significant for a couple reasons. Once I passed it I was in unchartered waters as far as CONTINUOUS running. Yes I ran 13.1 miles in training but that included brief stops where I drank and stretched. A crucial part of this event for me was to NEVER stop, even as I grabbed gatorade I kept running awkwardly, even though it caused me to choke on the fluids more than once. I wanted to RUN the entire distance.
The 7 mile mark also started the most difficult portion of the race where you spent two miles going across a bridge and back. The bridge had a high apex which broke a number of participants down to walking mode. Again for me, walking was simply not an option. Once I passed the 9 mile mark on the way back from the bridge I knew the worst part of the run was behind me. I passed the girls coming the other direction while I was on the bridge, they looked like they were enjoying their run.
About halfway into the race it started raining intermittently. It was a welcome rain that helped keep the temperatures down even if it did totally soak my shirt. If it was bright and sunny I am sure my performance would have suffered.
It was somewhere around the 9 mile mark that I picked up a pacer. There was a young (found out she was 22 later) blonde girl that I had been jockeying back and forth with for a good portion of the race. I eventually just got shoulder to shoulder and ran with her for awhile. I had figured out that her name was Lindsey from her family/friends yelling out to her earlier in the race.
For at least a mile I ran with her without saying anything. Her pace was pushing me to run faster than I probably would have on my own which was great.
Eventually I blurted out to her, “Lindsey you are my pacer” She laughed and said, “That’s funny, I am using you as my pacer”
We had some brief conversation as we chugged along. I found out that this was also her first half marathon and the people yelling out support were her neighbors and family.
As we got down to only a mile or two to go the conversation stopped as we both were concentrating on getting through the race although we still stayed side by side.
I was surprised as we neared the finish that some people were actually walking between mile 12 and 13. I would think at that point the proximity of the finish line would pull you in like a tractor beam, no matter how you were feeling.
Finally, the finish line was visible off in the distance. Lindsey accelerated as we were maybe a 1/4 mile out. I did my best to keep up but her kick was more than I had left in the tank. She probably finished a good 50-75 yards ahead of me.
I crossed the finish line, received my medal from the cute Hooter’s girl and tried to bask for a few moments in accomplishing a goal that literally came out of nowhere. For the first 42 years of my life I had an unrealized goal of being able to run the 10K distance that I saw my dad complete several times during my childhood. All of a sudden I found myself completing a run of more than twice that distance, some crazy stuff.
After I crossed I found Lindsey and thanked her for helping to pull me through those last few miles and she said the same to me. It was cool that two first time half marathoners could wind up propping the other up in that manner.
I went and grabbed some refreshments as I knew that it would be a little while until Ali and the girls came across the line. I cheered them on as they crossed just under the 2:30 mark.
My chip time of 2:10:52 wasn’t bad. According to my GPS, that I forgot to stop until 20 or 30 seconds after I crossed, the course was actually about .3 of a mile long. It showed my average pace was right around 9:45 which I was ok with. For a first official half marathon I had nothing to complain about.
After the race they were serving beer and wings along with conventional post race refreshments. Neither of those options sounded very good to me.
We hung out with the group for a little while before piling in the car to head home. On the way back Ali and I traded stories about the race. Of course my experience was very different from hers since this was my first half marathon race and her 6th.
Completing this race is a little feather in my athletic cap which is among other events like the Miami Triathlon, my final season pitching in Junior Legion ball and the epic 1999 win at the Pottstown Rumble.
The rest of our day at home was understandably low key. Both Ali and I were moving around very slowly as we accomplished the few remaining house chores. I also had my second nap of the weekend, a world record, albeit a much shorter 1 hour variety.
This weekend was one of those that will be permanently etched in my brain till the end of days. “Do the hard thing, the power will come” will come to mind when I look back on the event.
Here are the full results from the race if you would like to peruse them.
I have my running sneakers packed and I plan to resume my biking/running mid-week routine today. To say I am pleased that my body has emerged from running a half marathon basically unscathed would be an understatement. To be back on the treadmill a scant three days after the event is awesome based on my problematic knee history.
