DOWD YMCA 1/2 Mary - 11/1/08

Today I ran the DOWD YMCA 1/2 marathon. Finished with a PR. 1:51.28 was my time. I feel like it was a diamond day. Here is my story.....

Background
I am training for Thunder Road Marathon in December, so I thought this would be a great tune up race. I find that it is hard for me to calculate my true running time while running on the streets of Charlotte. I am always afraid that I have calculated the mileage wrong, or the stopping at the intersections will help in some way. So I thought I would see what 13.1 would hold for me. I have ran this race in 2005 with a time of 2:10. I have also ran the course 2 times for training runs.

Race Morning:
Normally in this section, I am telling about how my tummy is hurting. But not today. I have eaten good and really hydrated. I think this helped me feel good this morning. I got up at 0500 and asked for the Lord's blessings on my race and on all my friends who were doing the B2B 1/2 and full IM. Ate 1/2 of my PB&J bagel and drank G2. Packed up and headed to the DOWD YMCA. Got my chip and waited for the start.

Jessi came out and was my scream team for the day. She was board while waiting for me and did some self portraits.
The Race:
We started by running away from town on Morehead. I remember feeling anxious about trying to pass all the people who lined up too close to the front. I was running with a friend named Debbie. She ended up placing 2nd in her AG....with a time of 1:57...WOOT!
I passed mile 1 at 8:22. I thought, "WOW, this feels easy." I thought I may should slow a bit, but just kept running.
Mile 2 came around 16 something. I was still feeling good. I tried to run in the moment and not think about the miles ahead. I drank a bit of my G2 I was carrying with me.
Mile 3 was around 25 min. I was feeling good and was excited that I was able to feel good despite the "rolling hills".
Jessi met me 1st at mile 4. I am going UP Providence, across Sharon Amity. I was happy to see her. This gave me a boost to know she had made it. I am the one in the white shirt, black pants, and blue hat. Debbie has a blue coat on. I opened and took about 1/4 of my Hammer Gel.

This is me running away from the camera. I must wear the same thing to my races. This is my cool weather clothes. I wore them for the last 1/2 I did...LOL!

I never saw mile 5. I was getting worried at 45 minutes b/c I thought I had slowed. There were several big hills between these miles. We turned on Fairview and i knew that we were near mile 6.

I hit mile 6 at 50 minutes. After passing mile 6, I took some more Hammer Gel and drank a bit.
Mile 7 came at 58 minutes. I saw Jessi again and she took my picture.

After mile 7, we turn on Colony.

Soon after, I get a lovely side stitch...or cramp. Yes, I am not drinking enough. Anyway, I kept saying to myself, "A sidestich never killed anyone". This slowed me to around a 9 MPM. The next 2 miles were a pain...really! So I kept running and tried to drink some more.

Jessi caught me at mile 9. I told here that this was a long race. Ha Ha! She said, "Only 4 more miles". This wasn't much help.

I hit mile 10 at 1:25. I had gotten more fluid in me and was feeling better. I opened my next Gel and started sipping on it.

Turned left on Queens and I knew I would PR today. I turned left on East at mile 11 and started up. The last 2 miles were uphill. I think that is cruel, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. So I just kept my pace. All these guys started sprinting up East. I knew I would be running uphill for the last 2 miles. I knew I would be passing these boys back...I did.

I dug deep and finished this race.

I have a race video of the finish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88QUKpi4gjc

Thoughts:

I had 3 goals for this race.

1. My best goal was 1:50! My time was 1:51.28.

2. My doable goal was 1:54.

3. My easy goal was 1:58.

I feel good about this race. I think it showed me that if I run smart and not get overwhelmed, I can do a great job at Thunder Road.

I couldn't have done it w/o my scream teamer Jessi....Thanks girl! It is not easy to be a lone scream team...but you did great!