Race Report: 2012 ING Half Marathon

2012 is off to much the same start as 2011, so I decided it would be fitting to have my first post of the year (a year with hopefully more regular posting) be the ING Half marathon race report

A year ago the ING half was my first half marathon and the first time I'd ever raced over a 10k.  A year later it's my 4th half (though really only my second fast competitive one) and I have a full under my belt.  A year ago a strained achillies kept me from running for several weeks before the race, this year a foot stress fracture kept me out in december and a knee issue slowed me up for several weeks before the race.

I was signed up for the full marathon this year, but after being slowed up in December and January there was no way I could have run it, so I decided several weeks before the race that I would be running the half.  At the expo however they told me if I switched to the half there was a good chance I wouldn't be getting a medal or an official time - so I ran under my buddy's bibe number after he decided he wasn't even going to run the half.  Unfortunately this meant I was starting from the E coral rather than the C coral.  It didn't seem like a big deal to me at the time, but ultimately it lead me to treat this race as a long MP run rather than full out race.

Starting from closer to the back put a lot more slow people in front of me - and I'm sure many people who shouldn't have even been up there...  My first mile was  painfully slow 7:10 as I walk-ran as fast as I could constantly dodging around people and weaving from one side of the street to the other.  After 2 more miles of 6:40 pace dodging walkers I bagged any idea of racing and tried to settle into 6:40-6:50 pace.

Overall the race was relatively uneventful so I won't put down the details.  The 6:48 pace I averaged for the race felt hard, but on the plus side, even with limited training, didn't feel all our or as hard as it did last year.  (Granted I ran 5 min faster last year but I was healthier and the weather was quite a bit warmer this year.)  Also, my garmin read a full quarter mile further than race distance - lots of weaving from one side of the road to the other!

The goal now is to get fully healthy and get some good 5 & 10k races in this spring before settling in for another marathon training season.

My First Half - 2011 Miami ING

I had planned my first post to be about my running history – what I’ve done, what my future plans are and why recently my views on running have changed.  Yada yada, no one cares (not that anyone cares about reading about this race either...)  Suffice it to say I’ve been running for many years, but have never really raced anything longer than a 5k (okay, 5 - 8k fun runs and 1 - 10k about 8 years ago.)  I had no desire to run longer – I was all about the speed.  That changed this winter, partly due to reading Born to Run, partly due to other factors, and I signed up for the Miami ING half marathon a week before the race and totally unprepared.

I say unprepared because I had had almost no training for the last month due to an Achilles injury – one I gave myself by deciding to start the New Year off right with a 15 mile run I was also unprepared for.  After about 2 weeks off I came back with a week of VERY light training and the Sunday before ING went for a normal run and surprised myself.  With an altered stride (to help take pressure off my Achilles) I went through 7 miles at just under 7 min pace – maybe I had a chance at that 1:35 half I needed to get into the B coral at the Chicago Marathon (my goal race for the year.)  Still suffering the effects of my slight runner’s high, I signed up for the ING before I had stopped sweating from my Sunday run.

For the week before the race I went over my ill-conceived race strategy – just go out easy and keep it just under 7 min pace for the first 7-9 miles and try not to die too bad at the end.  Not exactly the race strategy I would have had back in my competitive high school running days.  I figured with this race plan my last miles could be closer to 7:40 pace and I could still get in under the 7:15 pace required for my goal time.

RACE DAY

The day of the race was somewhat cooler, but beautiful running weather.  I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to get ready and walk the 2 and a half miles from my apartment to the race start at the American Airline Arena.  At about 5:30 I shucked my sweats, checked my gear, and made my way through the crowd to the corals.  This would easily be the largest race I’ve ever run in – I’d heard numbers around 21,000 participants (roughly 16,000 finished – 12,861 finished the half.)  It was a different prerace routine for me – no real warm up (don’t need much for a race this long right?) and no stretching – I’d just read that pre-run stretching can actually do more damage than good – another post on this sometime perhaps.

The race started with a hand shot flare and a gradual shuffle towards the start line – not what I’m used to in 5ks with a sharp crack of a starter gun and a sprint to get position in the first 100 yards.  It was a bit of a challenge for the first half mile or so finding running room.  I ran a good part of it on the sidewalk scattering the few spectators there to see the race off.  By the top of the MacArthur Causeway the crowd had thinned enough that we were at least able to breath and hit our normal running stride.  For the first 5 miles I just tried to run relax, enjoy the sunrise over the ocean and cruise ships, and couldn’t help but smile.  The smile was in part due to running my first race in over a year, enjoying the great weather, the thrill of passing people by the dozens and realizing how easy the running was feeling despite putting in a couple of sub 6 min miles and averaging about 6:10 for the first 5 miles – slightly ahead of goal pace…

I was just having fun and enjoying running past all the spectators who were out cheering for anyone and everyone.  I was having fun until about mile 9 anyway, that’s when I started realizing this was a longer race than I was truly prepared for – and runners I had passed in miles 6-7 were nipping on my heals again.  At the same time I was realizing I still had a ways to go, I was realizing my average pace was good for A coral at Chicago – new race goal set.

A Jamaican guy and I started going back and forth in our own mini race, at one point as I passed him I said “common – let’s go get the next guy!”  It was actually a lot of fun running with him – though short lived.  After passing that next guy the Jamaican took off for good as I hit the wall in the 10^th mile dropping to a 6:41 mile.  It was about that point I actually wondered if I was really going to be able to finish the race without walking, however it’s amazing what a cheering crowd can do for a suffering body.  The cheering crowd and knowing I was in the last couple of miles helped me to finish relatively strong, ending with a chip time of 1:23:28 – almost 12 minutes faster than my goal and good for a A coral start at Chicago.

It wasn’t a particular spectacular race, but for me a great start for what should hopefully be an interesting year of running, full of fun races and serious marathons.  It also had several lessons learned:

o       I need to learn how to drink water while running without feeling bloated.

o       Never discredit the importance of cheering spectators.

o       It’s amazing what a competitive attitude can do for you on race day.

o       Consistent pacing could have shaved quite a bit of time off my finish.

o       I’m not yet ready for a Marathon, but I will be.  Goal: BQ.