Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Last Call Half Marathon--12/6/14

I signed up for this race a day or two after barely missing my PR at Tyranena. I wasn't ready to leave the season without it. The course boasted "flat and fast" and the starting line was a couple miles from home, so there you have it.

It was high 20s and I was in my new tri shorts, well-worn but lucky long sleeved tech top, hat and gloves. It was chilly but I had a good feeling about this one. I hydrated the heck out of myself all morning to prevent the god-awful Cramp of Tyranena. I even scaled back on the morning coffee and pre-race caffeinated gel.

Mile 1: 8:30 pace. What the? I'm not that fast.

Miles 2-6: 8:30-8:45 pace. Something isn't right. I'm seriously not that fast. Did they measure wrong?

Miles 7-10: 8:45ish pace. Not only am I going to PR, I'm going to CRUSH the 2-hour mark. But whoa. Mile 11 is where I got into trouble at Tyranena. Is that a cramp coming on? Take it easy, girl. Don't push it here.

Miles 11-13: 9:00ish pace. Moderate soreness and such slowed me down, plus the aforementioned fear of hitting some proverbial wall.

Done. PR by over 8 minutes, sub 2 hours by over 5 minutes. I won't bother signing up for another half for awhile, this new PR ain't going nowhere.

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