Today Is A Great Day...

Today was a great day. All around. Being surrounded by friends and T only made it better.

Last year I ran this race as my first ever HM and did ok all things considered (you can read about it here). In May I ran the HM at the Flying Pig and did pretty decent considering the course, etc (you can read about it here). After the Pig I realized that if I was going to do any better I would have to really dedicate myself and put in the miles/work necessary.

So I did. After the race in Cincy I increased the amount of miles I was running – I’ve been over 100 miles each month since May – and I made the effort to be consistent with doing the quality speed work that the training plan called for. This was my goal race all summer. Today it all paid off.

The weather couldn’t have been better – very cool at the start (34F) with little to no wind to speak of and after sunrise there wasn’t a cloud to be seen for most of the race. I was fortunate to have friendly faces around me at the start to ease the nervousness – one of T’s colleagues and one of the 30s from Kickrunner.com who traveled from out of state to run the race. I had kept my goal for today pretty close – I’d talked about it with 3 or 4 people – because I didn’t want to put it out there and be disappointed if it didn’t happen. My goal was to break 2 hours, my PR being 2:14:52 in Cincy.

We started off pretty easy – first race ever that I didn’t pass someone walking the race in the first 2 miles, which was very nice – and the pace felt good. It was still dark enough that I was having trouble reading my garmin with my sunglasses on. First mile: 9:01

Just past the first mile marker we were merged on to the bike path – pretty crowded and I almost made the jump back into the street just because I felt really boxed in and could feel myself slowing down, but we made a turn, past a water station and things thinned out nicely. Mile 2: 9:09

Fell into a pretty easy pace – having a friend alongside made a HUGE difference. It’s one thing to have snippets of conversations with other runners, but to actually carry on a conversation with a friend – priceless. The miles started clicking by fast enough that I actually looked over and said “these miles are going by pretty quick!” Mile 3: 9:02, Mile 4: 8:54, Mile 5: 8:52

We entered Millennium Park and I felt pretty good. Saw two people I knew – T’s colleague who was running the relay with her, and one of the physician’s covering the event that I work with. Nice to hear my name from familiar voices at this point. Mile 6: 8:45

Out of the park and downhill back to the bike trail. Looked at my friend and said “we might see T, so keep an eye out for her” – sure enough just before mile 8 we saw her! She was looking great. Mile 7: 8:53, Mile 8: 8:48, Mile 9: 9:02

Started to feel the effort in my legs a bit at this point…started thinking about other people I’ve interacted with on the Kickrunner and some of the experiences they’ve had here lately. Some of their words/mantras started bouncing around my head as I passed mile 10 right at 1:29:xx – so I knew that unless something really bad happened I would be able to make my goal. Mile 10: 9:04

Turned a corner, passed a water station and got separated from my friend (after she crossed the finish line I found her and she said she walked that water stop) and kept going. 3.1 miles to go. I tried to keep up with the people in front of me, letting them pull me along for a bit. Mile 11: 8:57

Back towards town. Keep my feet moving. Don’t lose sight of the people in front of me. Mile 12: 8:45

One mile and change to go. Don’t stop now. Gave it everything I have. Passed the Mile 13 marker, 8:25, and powered on to the finish line.

The most beautiful sight was the clock at the finish – it read 1:59:30 – so I new no matter what I’d exceeded my goal of finishing in 2 hours because it took me at least 2 minutes, or so, to cross the finish line.

Total time: 1:57:08. I took 17:49 off of my previous PR.

So:
Thank you Maria – I got comfortable being uncomfortable.
Thank you Dom – TCM didn’t provide it for you, so share in my PR today.
Thank you Maureen, Lori, and a few others – for keeping my goal a secret.

Today was a great day.