Finally, A Much-Needed “Win”

In the last few days before going to Washington, D.C. for another half marathon, it became more and more obvious that I just needed a ‘win’ in a race.

And by ‘win’, I just mean a race where I executed the plan that I had going into the race (whatever that plan was) and finished the race feeling strong and happy with my performance.

If I could accomplish that in this final half marathon before my 100km ultra training starts on March 24th, I felt like it would give me a nice confidence boost.

So the night before the race, I input a ‘workout’ into my watch. Four blocks of 3 miles with the target pace gradually speeding up from 8:00-8:15/mile (in the first 3 miles) to 7:30-7:44/mile (in miles 10 through 12) and then an all-out last mile (if possible). Breaking the distance into shorter blocks would allow me to focus on the block that I was in and the quicker paces would give me something to aim for to keep me motivated to push towards the finish line.

The day and night before the race, my legs felt good and I felt ready to go.

On the walk from my hotel to the start line, there was a little sprinkling of rain, which was unexpected, but otherwise the overcast skies and cool temperatures provided perfect running conditions.

Having the chance to meet up with my friend, Bobby, at the expo and chatting with him and a couple of new friends – Regina and Bethany – at the start line, helped to calm any nerves.

As the race got underway, I did my best to stay at least close to my planned paces, but that was easier said than done with the quick runners near me and the great crowds along the National Mall and the other areas around the White House. My pace for the first three miles ended up averaging around 7:50 or so per mile, but I was feeling good and didn’t feel like I was overdoing it, so I didn’t think much of it.

In the next block of 3 miles, things started to take a bit of a turn. After stopping to pee and taking my first gel, my stomach began to bother me a little bit. You might remember that I was having a similar problem in my last race in Las Vegas. And if you don’t remember, I definitely did! It was all I could do to keep myself from thinking that we were heading for a repeat of Las Vegas – with a good first half and then walking and jogging for the second half of the race.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen this time though. I was able to focus on just getting to the next mile marker, while continuing to take my gels and take water at each of the water stations. I was feeling better as the miles went on and eventually got to the half way point of the race.

Then, came the hill in Mile 8 that I knew nothing about until I saw it. The only other time I ran this race, I don’t think this hill was part of the route because if it was I would definitely remember it!

It was one of those winding hills that you can’t really tell where the top actually is until you get there. But despite my lingering stomach problem, my legs were still feeling good and as I started up the hill I realized that I was having very little trouble passing other runners. Even though I wasn’t too worried about these runners, it definitely gave me a boost to get up the hill!

Once at the top, there were only 5 miles left and I knew that from there I could push the pace a little more. The funny thing is that I knew that somewhere in my legs and body was the fitness and strength from the several weeks of good training I had done before my mystery illness 10 days before Las Vegas.

It’s amazing how quickly your mind can change from being unsure if I’ll even get to the midpoint of the race to feeling like I could finish strong with five miles remaining. But that’s exactly what happened.

Finishing the last 5 miles with my five fastest miles of the race, I allowed my body to take over and not let my mind get in the way.

And it felt really good.

Crossing the finish line in 1:41:43 was about a 20 minute improvement on Las Vegas. And even more importantly, I stuck with and actually executed the plan all the way to the finish!

It was a great (less than) 24 hours in Washington, D.C. Even though I live somewhat close, I haven’t spent too much time there over the years. It was great to run around the streets and see so many historical buildings and monuments.

But what was even better, was having the chance to meet up with an old friend and a couple of new ones! After all, these are the things we’ll probably remember better than the race itself!

As I’ve mentioned in the last couple of blog posts (and earlier in this one), I will now be shifting my training focus to a 100km (62 mile) race in the summer. Since it is completely unknown territory to me, I’m sure that there will be many things learned throughout the process.

And I’ll share everything I learn along the way, as well as some training updates and my other experiences throughout the whole process!

As always, I hope you enjoyed this post and some (or all) of my other posts over the past few years. If you know anyone who you think might also enjoy them or might be interested in following my next few months of ultra training, please share this with them!