Richmond Half recap (way too long)

[mrshandy]

Richmond Half Marathon Recap


Background


Ok here goes. So my sub 1:40 goal started almost 4 years ago at the Kiawah Half Marathon. I had just come off an awesome marathon at the Potomac River Run 3:29:22. I knew that a sub 1:40 was possible based on that. My PR was from March with a 1:48xx. But I had come a long way since then. I just needed to execute. Midway through the race though, I had some serious stomach distress and had to stop at a portapotty. There was a little line so that added some time. I still was able to PR with a 1:43xx. I realized afterwards that my stomach distress was from a stomach bug courtesy of my DS.


No worries, I will get it next time. Well next time didn’t come until almost 4 years later. In the meantime, something always stopped me from getting this. Whether it was the wrong race, injury recovery, marathon fatigue, bad conditions. I couldn’t bring it all together to make it happen. I did get really close in June 2017 at the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon with a 1:40:27. That course is really challenging (hills and gravelly roads) so surely I would get it in September. This is the same course I had my marathon PR on. Let’s just say, it did not go well. The first few miles, I knew it was not going to happen. My feet were not happy. The new Mizuno Wave Inspire 12s were just not working for me. I had run in them a few times and they felt ok, but they were not ok enough to deal with the rocky C&O canal. My legs were freaking tired from the Pfitz training plan. Ugh I was so disappointed.


Finally came Fall 2018, I did my half ironman in early September. It took a lot longer to recover from that than I thought. Mentally I was disappointed that I had an official DNF I thought I would just jump into half marathon training, but every time I thought about doing speedwork, I hated the idea. After an intense summer of training, I wanted to sleep in and spend time with the kids. So I just did easy runs and a weekly swim. I tried to lose a few pounds. It wasn’t until 2-3 weeks before Richmond before I started some speed work. I wasn’t sure if it was too late, but I’m glad I took that time off. I was injury free and felt rested by race day.


Race Weekend

H and I signed up for the half marathon the year before after I ran the Richmond marathon, lured by a good deal. I thought it might be a good one to try to hit sub 1:40 since it’s mostly flat and fast and has a downhill finish. It still bugged me that I hadn’t gotten it and I wondered if I ever would. We waffled on whether to stay overnight or just drive the morning of so we booked an AirBnB kind of last minute. It was a nice place inside, but the neighborhood was definitely transitional. I’m pretty sure we were the only house on the block that had people actually living in it. Every other one was boarded up or had a for sale sign in front of it.


We got the kids from school around 3 and drove down to Richmond. Despite some traffic, it wasn’t too bad thanks to being able to take the High Occupancy Toll lanes for free. The kids count towards the HOV-3. We made it around 5ish and went in to get our stuff. It was pretty crowded so we didn’t stay too long. We made it to our place, ordered some takeout, and then went to bed. My sister’s train from Baltimore had been delayed, so we didn’t see her before we went to bed.


530 wakeup, coffee, breakfast, then H and I caught an uber to the start. We left the kids with my sister and headed out He had dropped down to the 8K due to lack of training so we had to get there earlier.


It was a beautiful day for racing: sunny, upper 30s, low 40s. There was a little wind which was annoying at times. But really nice for the most part. Wardrobe for the day was tank top, arm warmers, ear warmers, capris. I was running as part of a team to honor a friend of mine whose teenaged son had committed suicide in May and wearing the t-shirt she had designed.

We met with a few friends before the race and did a picture. H left to do his race. I eventually made my way over to the bag check to drop off my warm clothes.


I walked towards first corral and quickly caught sight of the 1:40 pacer. Sounds good, let someone else do the thinking. A few minutes later and we were off! I ran with the 1:40 pacers for the first few miles and then I lost them at the first water stop. I realized that I was not really interested in catching up. I didn’t want to start to fast and I was happy with where my pace was at. I tried to settle in and find my zone. The first four miles (7:33, 7:25, 7:32, 7:24) were right on track and as much as I hated the idea of continuing to run this fast. Physically I could do it. I had to just stay in the 7:30s and not go nuts. I tried to look at the beautiful scenery find some tailwind and downhills. I took a GU, breakfast had been a while away. My stomach was not feeling it, but I knew I needed it. Mile 5 was strong at 7:29. The 1:40 pacers were still ahead of me by at least 1 minute or so, but I knew I was staying steady and maintaining my pace. I wasn’t going to struggle to keep up with them.


Miles 6-8 (7:37, 7:40, 7:51) were the toughest and I wondered if my lack of speed training were going to catch up to me. There were a few downhills, followed by some uphills. We ran in this park where there wasn’t much to look at and not much crowd support. It was here that I wondered whether this was where the wheels were going to come off. The 1:40 pace group was long gone and I really just wanted to stop. LOL do you ever have those hard moments of running when you just wonder what the hell you are doing? This was one of them.

I dug deep and knew that my MRTT’s cheer station was around mile 9. I knew they were waiting for me so I kept going. If I gave up now, I would have serious regret. Mile 9-11 (7:32, 7:36, 7:27) I found my pace again. There were some slight downhills. I focused on relaxing my shoulders, steady breathing, running my legs and not looking at my Garmin. “Relax your shoulders, run your legs” It was a mantra that I had used a few times during triathlon training when my coach had prescribed a strong finish.


Mile 12 came and I knew I could do this. I just had to get to 12.7 and I would let gravity do its work. The turn came and tried to relax my shoulders and focus on my footing as I raced down the hill. Mile 13 was 6:58, which I’m pretty sure is the only time I’ve seen a 6xx number in a half marathon. H was in the crowd, but I didn’t see him. I was too focused on not falling and finishing strong. I did see the 1:40 pacers casually jogging down the hill backwards telling people that 1:40 was still in reach. No shit Sherlock. Perhaps you should have toned it down a little so you’re running a steady pace throughout the race instead of going super slow at the end so you finish on pace.


Finally the finish line came, 1:38:36! All those times I missed it and today everything came together for a perfectly executed race.


Afterwards I met up with H, we got some beers and watched a few of my friends finish the marathon. I somehow missed gt7301b , but did catch my friend who BQed after failing in March. I was part of her relay pacing team and it was so hard to watch her goal slip away. I was so excited for her.


It was a long journey to get to this! Longer than it took me to BQ, but I feel a great sense of relief now that I’ve achieved what I set out to do almost 4 years ago. LOL.
I'm not sure what I'll try to do at Kiawah. Maybe try to PR, maybe just run whatever. Here's the finish line pic below. 

[labbie]

Congratulations!! Loved your race report, and that finish photo says it all.
Way to persevere after your goal and get it!

[gt7301b]

Congrats, I am so happy for you. What an amazing time!

[sadlebred]

That is an awesome PR! Congratulations!!

[shauni27]

I AM SO PROUD AND IMPRESSED AND IN AWE OF YOU! Also, that is one bad ass finish line picture!!

MAJOR congrats, friend!

[jene]

Congratulations! I’m so happy for you!

[hurricanedrunk]

Congrats on your epic PR!! So exciting to finally hit your goal!

[Wines Not Whines]

Congratulations on a great race!

[osulori]

Congratulations!!

[mysticmuffin]

Congratulations!! That finish line photo is everything.

[jade]

Congrats! Awesome race!

[cinco]

Awesome job!

[thom]

Awesome PR so many years in the works!! Very happy for you and very well deserved.

[bostonmichelle]

Congratulations!! That’s an amazing PR!

[jane6672]

That is awesome! Congrats on reaching your goal!

[keweenawlove]

Woot woot. Congratulations on your PR! That's such a great milestone.

[oswin]

Congrats!

[clseale]

Congratulations! So happy everything finally came together for you to nail your goal!

[fuckyourcouch]

Congrats! So glad you got your wish!