Inside Out Classic Half Marathon

Ahh yes, my longest run of the 2008 year is now in the books. If you've been following along with my blog, you know I had some anxiety about being able to run well while focusing the majority of my training on the bike. Today, in the Inside Out Sports Classic Half Marathon, I put those fears to rest.

My family arrived at IOS a little late, more due to me than the baby, but I'll blame her for simplicity. Anyway, I wasn't too stressed out because I wasn't entirely looking forward to this race, and since I didn't have to pay the registration (thanks IOS!) I wouldn't have minded terribly if it went off without me. You see, I'm so cheap that the thought of losing my registration fee is a big motivator to race, even when it's a bad idea (like when I had a 104 degree fever and raced Kerr Lake last year! Not smart!). So, no time to wait in the port-o-john line, just a 2 minute warm up "jog" in the woods, and then on the line to race.

I started out easy. My plan was to be conservative, shooting for 6:24 miles throughout (for 1:24 total). After the uphill first mile in 6:32, I thought maybe that was going to be a stretch, and a readjustment of goals was necessary. In fact, I REALLY underestimated the hills on this course. I was ready for bad weather, but I didn't realize there was only about a mile and a half of flat in this entire course. After the first mile mark, a pack of 5 guys took off, followed by a half a dozen stragglers including me. The second mile was marked by what I call "the mysterious chest pain." This is blog-post worthy in itself, so I'll leave it at that until I can give it a full post later this week. For now, suffice it to say its something I've had off and on for years, and even doctors can't figure it out. The chest pain kicked in at 1.5mi and started to intensify by 2 miles. I have never DNF'ed a race before, and I was sure today was the day. As I looked at the huge hill on Weston Parkway, I thought, well, if I run up that hill, the chest pain will surely stop me, and I'll drop out. But, as I crested Weston, it totally disappeared (hence "mysterious"). So, I decided to press on and at least get a good long training run in, maybe at 6:45 pace or so.



Miles 3-5 were steady and uphill, about 6:30, as I tried to figure out what this race was going to be. By the turnaround at 7 I was feeling strong again, and passed a couple guys. After mile 8 I began feeling awesome, and as we turned downhill for the first time in 3 miles I picked up the pace. From here on in I felt fantastic, and ran very hard all the way to the finish, passing two more guys. I didn't want to stop when the finish line came. I crossed in 1:23:42 (6:23 pace), and high five'd Becca and said I wanted a second loop! Here's the breakdown:

1 - 6:32
2 - 6:01
3 - 6:29
4 - 6:27
5 - 6:47
6 - 6:39
7 - 6:28
8 - 6:21
9 - 6:04
10 - 5:57
11 - 6:21
12 - 6:23
13 - 6:35
.1 - 34 sec

I was 7th overall out of 400, and 1st in the age group. I got a beer mug with the race logo and a $25 gift card to Inside Out. This race served as the North Carolina state half marathon championship as well. Here I am picking up the loot:



Overall, I am very happy with the way this race turned out. I was able to salvage a great race out of a possible DNF. While talking with a friend after the race, he asked if it was my first half marathon, to which I said "Awww, no, I've run tons of them." So then he asked if it was a PR, and I realized it really was a PR because I've never run a half before. Yes, its true, 8 marathons, 5 half irons, 1 full iron...but never a plain old half marathon. So, there it is, my PR is 1:23 on a tough course. Kinda makes me want to go run a flat one for giggles!