Crystal Lake Half Marathon Recap: For the fun of it.

Well, I did it for fun, but also as a marathon-pace practice race.  I do think it sad that I sign up for a half marathon these days without batting an eye.  When I was a newer runner, I used to agonize over every longer-distance race, wondering if I had it in me to finish within a decent time.

Now I'm all like, "Half marathon?  When?  I'm in."  Sick.  Sick and wrong, I know.

I ran this half marathon last year.  I was actually training for another half at the time, but got what's known as "sick" with the sinus infection from Hades and ended up not running it.  This is not because I am a wimp; when you spend the night before a race with a fever and a head that feels like a block of wood and wake up surrounded by more used tissues than bed sheets, I would think you would tend to come down on the side of "I would not like this to develop into pneumonia if I run" rather than "I will (literally) suck it up and run even if it means I will spend the next 3 months in the hospital."

So, rather than run sick and get sicker, I decided to bag that race and sign up for the Crystal Lake Half Marathon two weeks later.  I still wasn't totally well by then (that's how bad this infection was), but I managed a 1:57.  Not my best time, but a steep hill at mile 9 got me and then I ended up doing a run/walk for the final miles of the race.  I was disappointed, but glad I snuck in under 2 hours.

This year, since I am training for a marathon, I decided to use this race as a marathon-race pace race (say that 3 times fast) so I could get a feel for running my projected pace for 13 miles.  I knew that my marathon pace (9:30) would put my time for the half at over 2 hours, but that was alright.  I must keep reminding myself that the goal is to get to my marathon starting line uninjured and well-rested.

Plus, it was kind of nice to run a half and not bust a gut the whole time.

The weather was almost perfect-cool (in the 60s) and cloudy, with the sun staying away for the entire race.  The only thing that sucked was the humidity; at the start of the race it was actually misty/rainy.  I was drenched by mile 4, with my shirt sticking to my gut uncomfortably thereafter.

This guy was stretching in front of my car.  Grey skies everywhere.

Drenched by the end.  Shirt is stuck to my ginormous gut.

Since this was a training run, technically, let's review what I learned about my training at this point (4 weeks from my marathon), shall we?

• I have a tendency to speed up.  I caught myself many times running in the 8:30s.  I had to continually force myself to slow the freak down so I could practice my marathon pace.
• Pacing people is a great way to force yourself to slow the freak down.  Then, after you've gotten in some "rest" behind them, pass them. 
• I passed 5 guys wearing Ragnar Chicago shirts.  This gave me all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings inside.  I counted them as "kills."
• I maintained a pretty even average pace for 10 miles (around 9:15). Good to know I can be consistent.
• This race was a great way to practice my hill strategy.  Twin Cites is going to be hilly, and this race had a few good-sized hills up in there.  I had to focus on slowing down and picking up my feet (along with keeping my feet under me and not overstriding).
• I wore my Brooks Glycerin 11s to see how they would feel for 13 miles.  I think these will be my marathon shoes.
• Only in mile 12 did I start to get winded, but that's because I was trying to book it at an 8:30 straight into 12 mph winds.  I saw someone I knew at that point that was walking, and stopped to chit-chat for a bit.  That reset my lungs and I was able to finish strong.  But still....all that speed work is paying off.  I think I can maintain between a 9:30 and 9:45 for this marathon coming up.
• I wanted to quit and walk several times after mile 10.  But my trick is to think about how tired my legs really are--if, after I do a mental check, realize that they are not all that tired, I find that I can push on.
• I still assume everyone is better than me.  While waiting at the starting line, I kept looking at people and thinking, "They're going to beat me."  I am glad to report that I passed around 70% of those people, mostly in the final miles.

So, how did I do overall?  Check it out:

2:02.  Not bad; not bad at all for someone who was actually trying to run slower than that.  I was expecting between 2:00 and 2:05, so this is dead on for me.  I know that a 9:20 pace is actually faster than I should have run, but at least now I know that I can run at least half of that marathon near my projected pace.

I guess this race wasn't just for training--it was also to give me a little confidence in the pace I have chosen, which it did.  I'll see if it that confidence remains four weeks from now when I'm standing in my starting corral at Twin Cities trying not to ball up on the ground and go fetal.