My goal heading into this half marathon was just to finish under 2 hours. I had a long week of training. I ran 14 miles the day before the half marathon. I did that because I wanted to run on legs with high mileage. I wanted to see how they would respond. My weeks of big mileage are leading me up to my upcoming 50 mile race in October.
The start of the race was nice. It was sunny and in the 50s. I started the half in a large pack of ladies. I soon broke away from them. I was surprised to find myself in the top 10 women at this point. But there was still a long way to go. I looked at my watch at the mile split, it read 7:56. I really didn't think I was running that fast. I knew that pace was too fast for me, but I decided to keep going to see how it would all turn out. After the first mile, a bunch of guys started passing me. That really didn't bother me because it was guys. It was bound to happen.
The course was a mix of paved and dirt roads. Usually dirt roads don't bother me, but they did Saturday. Especially when I stepped on large rocks. I have a plantar wart on the ball of my left foot. A couple of weeks ago, I aggravated it. I walked home from a car repair shopping wearing dress shoes, as I came directly from work. My left foot really hurt after the half mile walk home. Now it is just sore. Every time I stepped on a rock, it hurt. It felt like I was getting stabbed by a needle. I tried to take paths that were clear of rocks. Sometimes there wasn't any other option. I was very happy to leave the dirt roads and get back on the paved roads.
I didn't look at my watch too much during the half. I looked at it the first mile and I didn't look at it again until mile 7. My mile 7 time was 61 minutes. I was ahead of where I needed to be by 2 minutes. I knew if I could hold that pace, I would run well under two hours.
I continued to push myself. In the miles between 6-12, a couple more guys ended up passing me. So did a couple of ladies. When the ladies went by me, I knew my chances of having a women's top 10 finish were fading. Even though people kept passing me, I was still ahead of the mile splits.
The last mile and half was difficult for me. The course had a couple of hills. I just put my head down and kept my legs moving. I got up the hills, but not as fast as I wanted to. During the final stretch of the race, I knew someone was behind me. I could tell by the volunteers clapping and saying "You're almost done!" When I saw the sign that read mile 13, I tried to pick up the pace. I couldn't. As I was rounding the circle driveway to the finish, a lady ran beside me, said "you can do it" as she passed me. I tried to give chase. My legs had no response. That woman finished six seconds ahead of me. I crossed the finish line in 1:56:44. I finished fourth in my age group. My time was 1:26 minutes slower then last year. Not too shabby for someone who had 90 miles on the legs heading into a half marathon.
**EDITED** According to the official results, I finished as the 10th overall woman. I received a phone call Tuesday from the place that held the half marathon. They said I had an award waiting for me to pick up. I was actually third in my age group and won a pin. The pin said third place with the half marathon logo. It was a nice surprise. The timer showed me the results after the race and I was fourth in my age group. Apparently the results were wrong.
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