I have to admit that my confidence was rattled a bit after back-to-back disappointing performances in my last two half marathons. But this time things actually went well from start to finish. In my third half marathon in the past four months, I ran a 7:49 pace for the race, which was a vast improvement from the 8:13 pace I ran in October (Jacksonville Marine Corps) and the 8:11 pace in November (Philadelphia). Not a bad way to kick off the 2012 racing season.
I had a good foundation for this long-awaited success. First, I managed to get some decent training in during the two weeks leading up to the race. Second, I was feeling great on my training runs as I reaped the benefits of coming down from high altitude trekking through remote corners of the Andes on the Inca Trail in late December. Alek has enjoyed similarly euphoric benefits in his track season training for the past two weeks. Third, after much lobbying from Alek for the past two years, I finally caved in and bought a pair of lighter sneakers (Adidas Adizero), which are the lightest racing sneakers that I’ve ever owned (about 6 ounces less weight on my feet compared to the weight of sneakers I usually wear for racing) and that really helped me.
This race was my 27th half marathon. I ran a 1:42:28, which is my third fastest half marathon since 2003. My splits ranged between 7:42 and 7:56 for every mile except mile 12, which was still strong at an 8:01. The field was incredibly small but competitive (I placed 29th of 190 finishers, 5th in my age group and top 15% overall). My two faster half marathon times in Florida came in 2009 on flatter courses and perfect weather. This course was not flat and didn’t have perfect weather. It included two major bridge spans at miles 2 and 7 that rival the challenge in the Jax Marine Corps Half Marathon course. In addition, while the weather on Sunday was pleasant for the most part, there was a strong and cold headwind that slowed me down a bit in mile 12.
Runner’s Highs
“Pacer Alek”: Having Alek as my pacer throughout the race really helped me avoid my recent nemesis of late-race mental and physical collapse. I ran virtually even splits for the entire race, which is very rare. This was the first time that I’ve run an entire race with Alek since 2008, when I paced him through his first half marathon at the age of 12 in Miami. It felt good to run stride for stride with Alek for most of the race and to hear his tough love encouragement. I could tell he was impressed and pleasantly surprised by my performance after my recent disappointing races in the fall. I knew that I was running a good race because he wasn’t berating me much at all. In fact, the only berating came from me directed toward him at mile 7. We had just blazed up and down a massive concrete bridge and Alek had hammered the pace down about 5 seconds in that mile. He then proceeded to push the pace even more in mile 8, and I lost my cool. I was struggling to regain my rhythm, and my breathing was getting ragged. I used what little available oxygen I could gather to shout at his back, “I need you the most in the next three miles. Don’t be a jerk.” He promptly complied. And running the race with me was a good training run for Alek. It was about 15 minutes slower than his best time for a half marathon that he ran in 2010, but he was as sore as I was the day after the race (both of us just had mild stiffness in our legs).
Back injury and vegetarianism: This race finally put to rest two burning questions that followed me during 2011. Was my new vegetarian diet hampering my speed and endurance? Was my back injury something that would follow me into my old age? After this race, it turns out that the answer to both of these questions is a resounding NO, which is very good news. I feel more energetic than ever and my back feels good as new.
Post-Race Party: Pizza, Cheez-its, cookies … and the ghost of Jimi Hendrix … all in a nice courtyard setting with fountains on a nice sunny day in the low 60s. You just can’t beat it. Even though the food options read like a bachelor’s grocery shopping list, it was quite good and plentiful. The most pleasant surprise by far was the pizza provided by Mezza Luna restaurant. As a pizza snob born and raced in New Haven County, Connecticut, I can attest that an English muffin with ketchup and a slice of melted American cheese on it can pass as pizza here in Florida, and you pay through the nose for it, too. But this pizza was excellent … and free. It was New Haven style thin crust with a nice blend of sauce and real mozzarella cheese that actually had basil and oregano in there, too. So, I treated myself to about six slices of it and chased it with two bottles of Gatorade and an ample supply of Cheez-its and chocolate chip cookies. No wonder I woke up from my post-race nap that afternoon with a gastrointestinal hangover.
And the musical entertainment was another eye-opening surprise. The “band” was one guy, who was billed as a Caribbean steel drum band. And the steel drums provided a nice laid-back tropical vibe. But for a few songs, this guy was channeling Jimi Hendrix as he was jamming like nobody’s business on his electric guitar. I was waiting for him to play the guitar with his teeth, but I’m not sure if he did because I was too busy inhaling pizza and stuff.
Runner’s Lows
Improperly measured course: I’m no math whiz, but I can count. This course was a full two-tenths of a mile short. How is that possible? So, I crossed the line in 1:40:43, which would have been my fastest half marathon in Florida, but I had to “project” my actual finishing time to be a 1:42:28 by taking my 7:49 pace and seeing what the half marathon pace chart yielded for a finishing time. This projection is accurate (+/- 5 seconds), but I shouldn’t have to calculate differential equations to determine my finishing time in a race that set me back $75 (and several tablets of Tums).
Navigation free-for-all: Here’s some advice for the race organizers from a road racing veteran. If you are setting people loose on a course that is 13.1 miles long (or something close to it for those who can’t add), and it’s a very small field of runners, you need to have SIGNS posted at every turn in the course. My vision starts to blur in the second half of a race of this length and I’m not going to slow down and strain my weary eyes to try to read faded chalk arrows on the pavement. If signs with arrows are too much to ask, maybe plant a few people at those turns to point runners in the right direction. Anyone above the age of 5 can handle this task. Thank goodness Alek was pacing me in this race; otherwise, I may have crossed the finish line in Ft. Lauderdale.
Ran out of t-shirts: And last but not least, the hefty $75 entry fee didn’t yield the long sleeve tech shirt that was promised. Why? Because they gave too many away to the volunteers, or so they claimed. But they said they will mail the shirt to me. Whatever. I’m not holding my breath. Is there any of that pizza left to help me forget that I got screwed out of getting my shirt?
For the next two weeks, I will be focusing on enhancing my speed with some interval work and tempo runs. I plan to shatter my time from last year at the Winter Beach 5-Miler on February 4 in Jax Beach.
So look at you with all these improved running times!! Yea, I say.
Now for your luck with getting hats and shirts, your running dead last.
At least the food and music compensated.
Better luck next time!
Ginny