Half-Marathon fun

"Why am I at the front?" I asked myself. The half-marathon and 10k runners were at the starting line with about 5 minutes to go. "Why are we at the front?" I asked my running partner. He seemed a bit more comfortable there and said, "No one else wanted it." Immediately around us there were a few guys that looked pretty fast - shirtless guys with red headbands. We noticed another shirtless guy with headphones and red shoes. He was doing some interesting "loosening up" that reminded me of Woody Harrelson's character in the movie White Men Can't Jump.

My wife and I had tentatively planned a camping trip this weekend and I wasn't even going to run this race. But plans changed and Friday night I found myself at Omega Sports registering and texting my running partner, Tim, to let him know I'd be there. We had both pre-run the course a few weeks earlier and were well aware of the hills throughout and especially in the last two miles.

Knowing I am aiming for a BQ at a November marathon, Tim said, "McMillan calculator says to run a 3:15 marathon you should be able to run a 1:32:29 (7:04 pace) half-marathon. I say we go for it." I had done the pre-run at about a 7:41 pace. My half-marathon PR was at a 7:26 pace. On a recent tempo run I had struggled to do 3 miles at 7:00. "7:04?" I questioned myself. "Could it be done?"

There was no countdown. Instead, the seconds before the start had the guy who knew how to use the bull horn showing the town mayor how to use it, what to say and how to make the siren sound. "Runners ready! Set!" Awkward pause as the mayor found the siren button again. "Bwwoooop!"

We had already been warned to not be at the front if we planned a 9:00 pace so you don't get run over by the 5:00 pace runners. "Come on, come on," I heard behind me and I stepped aside as soon as parked cars allow. "Thanks," the guy said as he and a couple others took off past me. The downhill start had us all going fast. A few hundred yards into it I glanced at my Garmin: 5:34 pace. I wondered, "Is this what they mean by starting out too fast?"

The first mile was mostly downhill and was over in 6:31. I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain that pace and make it through the rolling hills to come and still have enough for the uphill finish. As the miles went by I saw splits such as 6:59 and 7:02. My overall average was staying just below 7:00 and I began to believe I could get that 7:04 pace goal.

I ran by myself for most of the race. Running partner Tim had gone ahead of me around mile 3. I could see him for a long time, but he was slowly increasing the gap. On the other hand, I could also see the shirtless headphone guy with the red shoes. And I was slowly decreasing the gap. The rolling hills worked to my advantage and I was just behind him at a water station. This particular water station had middle school cheerleaders doing cheers instead of holding out the cups. The shirtless runner attempted to grab a cup off the edge of the table, but instead knocked it to the ground. He glanced back at me and shrugged. And then for some reason he suddenly yanked his headphones off which sent his sunglasses flying to the ground. He didn't stop. Perhaps he was flustered about the missed drink or that I had been breathing down his neck for a while. By mile marker 11 I had passed him and only had the uphill finish to worry about.

With my average pace at 6:59, I hit the one super steep hill. I tried a shorter stride at first, but that didn't feel right. I wanted to walk it as my energy was getting low again. The Gu energy boost at mile 6.5 was loosing its effect. I passed a couple of ladies walking up (I think they were in the 10k) and uttered, "This sucks." They laughed and offered encouragement. "You can do it! Good job!" I made it up and tried to get back to my previous rhythm. That hill and the gradual incline following caused my mile 12 and 13 splits to be 7:27 and 7:12 respectively. I managed one last push up the hill to the finish. My pace for the last tenth of a mile was 6:25.

My official finish time was 1:32:00 for an average pace of 7:02. I came in 13th overall and 3rd in my age group. Tim came in two minutes ahead of me for 12th overall and first in his age group. We were both happy with our results. My wife and kids were at the finish to get pictures and congratulate us. But when we found out the awards weren't going to be for another 2 hours (a full 4 hours after the start - isn't there a 3 hour cutoff for most halves?), we headed home for showers and rest.

The kids and sweaty Daddy

Me and running partner Tim