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First Ever Half Marathon

March 20, 2010 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: Dawn, cool, warming up as sun rose

Comments:
Ran the National Half Marathon this morning and it was excellent. I'd had a cold all week, and I was struggling bit to keep on Thursday's "light" run with the boys, so I thought that my original goal of 1:23 would be out of sight and that 1:30 might even be difficult. A bit behind on sleep for the week as well, and the night before the race I kept waking up, having nightmares about being excluded from the race because I had failed to check in and pick up my race bib the day before like the pre-race email instructed (which was in fact the case, though luckily, they had a special table this morning for fools like me to check in). Got down into position for the race a mere 2 minutes before start time due to a major traffic backup entering the RFK stadium parking lot. No time for stretches, but I was warmed up.

I started near the front in the 2nd fastest section behind a couple hundred runners. The crowd started off a run, but were slowed due to congestion, so recalling Anthony's advice from high school cross country I cut to the outside and easy got around the thicket of bodies. Over the first three miles, I gradually settled into an appropriate pace, catching up to group after group and then tepidly preceding to pass them as I realized I could go faster while still keeping my breathing relaxed. It all felt very natural, actually. I just told myself that I would be running 13 miles and then let my body decide what kind of pace it could handle. As we sped down the malls past the American History Museum and Washington Monument, I felt more and more confident and was utterly delighted when I glanced down at my watch for the first time at mile 3 and saw my time was 18:06. I must be going sub-6 I thought, given how slow the start was. It was 30 seconds per mile faster than I had planned, but my level of breathing felt appropriate.

The race continued to flourish from that point on. The hill up to Dupont along 18th street and Connecticut turning out to be much more gentle that I'd imagined, and the cheering crowds really boosted my confidence. I dug into the Columbia Road hill up to Adam's Morgan, taking pride in my years of running ups mountain at Williams. The crowd in Adam's Morgan gave me a real psychological boost, and I continue to get aggressive, catch up to groups, and leap-frog people all the way through Columbia Heights to Howard U. I loved having the people cheering the entire 13 miles. The race course went past both my girlfriend and my ex's apartments, and it occured to me that I've I'd planned this out better, I actually could've had people I knew cheering for me (though 7:30am on Saturday is asking a lot ). The police road blocks and flashing sirens made me feel special though.

I took block or two easier here and there, but for the most part kept turning up the effort to match how I should feel during the third quarter of any race. The long-awaited downhill down North Capital street proved to be less of a relief that I'd pictured, and I continued the trail the kid in the Yale singled who I'd passed and then had passed me a couple miles back. As we rounded the corner onto H Street Northeast, DC's newest "up and coming" hotspot, I started singing to myself to keep up my motivation. At nine miles, things catching up to people was tough, though I had no problem maintaining my position. I missed the mile 11 marker, but somewhere along those new trolley tracks, I decided that I was time to go and made a conscious effort to start tapping whatever reserves I had left. I clung to guy in white who tried to pass me and rode him all the way up to the next runner. He eventually broke away and was running side-by-side with the Yale kid, who I was determined to take down. Right as we passed mile 13 I decided to go, and focusing in on that woman ahead of me (she was in 4th place it turns out), did some blizzard floppy leaning move that propelled me ahead and sent me staggering past her like a fish frantically flopping its way across a deck. I did the same thing a minute late and caught up to Yale guy and the man in white with only 3/4 of mile left. As we neared the stadium, we dropped the guy in white, but the Yale guys stayed with me and eventually split off, finishing 10 seconds ahead. My own finish was less than glorious, but there was a pretty little kick in the last 40m once I was within sight of the finish line. Prior that that, I was plagued by flagging confidence, plus feeling really spent. However, my last mile it turned out was around 5:49, the fastest of the race, so I guess I was still blazing after all.

After the race, I hung around in the euphoric glow my surprising accomplishment, amazed at my time 1:20:26, a full 10 minutes faster than I'd expected. I was also surprised to me find my quads felt sorer that I could remember feeling in my life. As listened to the announcer welcome in the other runners, including 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson, I thought to myself, "this is great, but I've got to go see my kiddos. I don't want to miss the first race). So, jogging, I retried my bag from the armory, ran to my car, and drove out to Good Council in Olney where I had the pleasure of coaching one of the most successful meets GDS has ever run.

Only later did I discover that my time pace was 6:09 (something I hadn't even dreamed of) and that I had actually set my 10k PR (37:06) along the way. I was also, it turns out, 59 place out of 6000 much father up than I'd ever imagined.

All in all, an awesome day. That distance on pavement didn't aggravate my shins like I'd feared, nor did I ever get bored. I think I've found a new event for myself.