When: Saturday, June 1st, 2013
Where: Kansas City, Missouri
Weather: 62-64F with 72% humidity @ start and 54% at the finish.
Goal: Sub-2 hours
Finish: 1:53:52 (6 Mile: 52:36; 9 Mile: 1:18:04)
O/A: 1147/4239
Background:
This is race could be considered my "white whale." It
This year, I really thought that sub-2:00 would be extremely difficult since I have not trained on any hills. I take that back, to get in some hill work, I ran the Rock On, Lake Perry trail half marathon and then 1 week later ran the KC Corporate Challenge half marathon (05/18/31). During both previous half marathons, I fought off cramping issues during the last half mile. I decided to make changes to my racing strategy and see how it paned out.
Race:
The race started at 7:00 and I had about 20 minutes to drive to make it to the starting area. Since I work near the start/finish line, I decided to leave my house around 5:00 and just relax and listen to some tunes in my office (cubicle). Another bonus about working near the start/finish area, ready access to real restrooms.
After listening to some tunes to get me pumped up for the race, I headed down to the start area at about 6:30ish. There was already a lot of people lined up in the various corrals. I made my way to Corral C and looked for the 2:00 pacer. They ended up being in Corral D, so I decided to line up in the back of Corral C and try to keep the 1:55 pacers in sight. Shortly after I lined up, Karina, a friend from Nebraska found me and we chatted for about five minutes before wishing each other luck.
With about 15 minutes before start time, I turned on my Garmin so it could lock on to the satellites. While waiting, I decided to snap a few photos.
After a moment of silence for the Boston victims, and the victims of the OK tornadoes, a gal did a good job singing the national anthem and then the wheelchair racers started at 6:55. My Garmin still hadn't locked on to any satellites, so I turned it off/on to start the process again. Corral A started at 7:00 and I again turned my Garmin off/on to attempt to get the stupid thing to work. Corral B left about 2-3 minutes later, followed by us after another 2-3 minute pause.
Since I had to fight off cramping issues during the last two half marathons I decided to start using S!CAPS again. I stopped because I would drink way too much water when I took one every 30 minutes. I decided to only take two during the half marathon and see how that worked for me.
Since my Garmin still hadn't locked on to satellites after about 3 minutes of running, I turned it off/on one more time. As soon as it was turned back on, it locked on to the satellites. Since I couldn't rely on my Garmin for the first mile, I caught up with the 1:55 pacers and decided to let them do the work for me. The first mile starts with a gentle half mile downhill, then is level to a slight incline for the rest of the mile. As soon as I started running, I started getting tightness in my left heel. The tightness finally went away at the end of the first mile. Since my Garmin started late (about 0.35 miles late) I don't have an accurate time for the first mile. As soon as I hit the Mile 1 marker, I pushed the lap button so I could get an idea of how the miles were going.
Mile 2 is generally uphill. I worked my way up to the 1:55 pacers and ran alongside the lead pacer for a while. I started focusing on my breathing, shortening my stride up the hill, and taking stock in how I was feeling. The humidity seemed high, but since it wasn't really hot, it wasn't affecting me much. I finished Mile 2 at about a 9:11 pace.
Mile 3 starts uphill, but most of it is completely downhill. I slowly picked up speed and hit my groove. Some people flew down the hill, but I ended up passing most of them back during the later stages of the race. I believed that if I ran hard downhill, I would use up energy that I needed later in the race. So I pushed the pace a bit, but let gravity do most the work for me. I finished Mile 3 in roughly 8:35.
Mile 4 continues downhill which is shown in my pace. I finished Mile 4 in roughly 8:14. I believe it was during this mile that one of my friends, Scott, came up alongside me. We ended up chatting off and on and pacing off each other for most of the race. It definitely helped pass the time. We started near the lead pacer, but decided to ease up a bit. We still stayed between the two 1:55 pacers. It was during this mile that I started dumping water over my head at the rest of the aid stations. I had a waist belt with two bottles on and used that for any water I wanted to drink.
Mile 5 starts uphill, then goes downhill for about a half mile, then goes uphill for the remainder of the mile. I started focusing more on running my own race and less with keeping up with the pacer. I figured as long as I could keep the 1:55 pacers in sight, I would finish in under two hours. I finished Mile 5 in roughly 8:21.
Mile 6 is basically a gently rolling section of the course. It was during this mile that I took my first S!CAP. I also let the 1:55 pacers get a little further ahead and started to walk for a short time at the water stations. Due to walking at the water station, I finished Mile 6 in roughly 8:58.
Mile 7 starts downhill for about the first half mile, then starts to climb back up, dips down, and finishes uphill. The pacers were pulling a further ahead, but I decided to stick with my plan and run my own race. Since my main goal was a sub-2:00 time, I was still well on track and didn't worry about the 1:55 pacers pulling further ahead. I finished Mile 7 in roughly 8:28.
Mile 8 starts uphill, but goes downhill for the majority of the mile, with a little hill towards the end of the mile. I started feeling a little bit tired here, but still not too bad. I finished Mile 8 in roughly 8:47.
Mile 9 is a gentle downhill mile and I took advantage of it to make up some more time. I finished it in roughly 8:19.
Mile 10 continues downhill, has a small gently rolling section, then ends going uphill. I finished in roughly 8:43.
Mile 11 is completely uphill and was also my slowest mile. Every other time I've ran this race, I had to walk the majority of the mile. This time, I ran it all except for a small portion during the water station. I finished it in roughly 9:31.
this mile.
Mile 12 is basically a gently rolling mile except for a short, but steep hill at the end of it. I walked the hill at the end and finished in roughly 8:51.
Mile 13 starts with a short uphill section, but then is downhill for the rest of the mile. I picked up the pace to catch the 1:55 pacers. As they came closer into view, I really started picking it up and caught the first pacer near the end of the mile. I finished the mile in roughly 8:03.
I was closing in on the lead 1:55 pacer and somehow found another gear. I ended up passing him about 150 feet before the finish line. According to the Garmin, I finished the final 0.2 miles at a 5:53/mile pace.
After finishing I grabbed some water, gatorade, and chocolate milk. I stretched a little, ate the post race BBQ (which was edible, but not what I would call good), went up to my office and stretched the calf muscles, then finally went to the beer garden. I was given an extra beer ticket from some random gal and ended up having 2 beers. Well, it might be stretch calling it beer since it was Michelob ultra. I ended up running into several friends in the beer garden (imagine that). As usual, a few of us Trail Nerds were basically the last people to leave the beer garden.
I am very happy with sticking to my race strategy and crushing my goal. It was a fun race and I feel I have finally turned a corner with my running. Now it's time to turn my focus to more trail running in hopes of running my first 50K in October. At least I know that I'll enjoy the training.
Eric
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