CMM RR Half Marathon - Follow Up to "Am I Ready" - Long (Read 408 times)

When I first asked everyone at RA if I was ready to try to run my first half marathon (this was actually my fifth half marathon, but first to try to run more than "half of a half"), I received several good suggestions and felt I would try to at least run the first 15K the CMM, and then see how I felt. I was with four others in my run group from Michigan. Makers described the conditions well for the CMM as did Jeremy for the Derby Marathon. High of 86. Chicago 2007 on everyone's mind. I'm from Michigan. I ran the 15K in March in 28 degrees. 5:00 - at LP Park feeling good, ready to race. Swigging G2 and water. Feeling hydrated after drinking loads of water all week. My goal was to average 12:00 minute miles and PR (former PR was 2:47 at San Antonio when I ran half of the half). Keep in mind that at 52, I'm still a new runner. First 5K was at 50 two years ago. 7:30 - Off in corral 19. First three miles, lots up hill, right on target, in fact a little ahead. Felt great. Running with my regular race partner. Mile 3 - right foot falls asleep. This is not new, happens many races, always works itself out. Walked about 1/2 mile of Mile 3 to work it out. Better by 3.5 and I'm running again. Foot starts again at 4.5 and I waved my friend on. I stopped, took off my shoe and rearranged everything in my shoe. Off running again, good through the 10K sign, right on pace despite the stops. Then, I started to feel a little dizzy and parched. I had been carrying a bottle of water, had shot blocks and been drinking water and Cytomax at the stops, so not sure why I was dehydrating. So, I slooooowwwwed down. The 2:30 pace guy passed me. It was so sad seeing him go off in the distance. But, I bucked up and walked for awhile to get back into race form and never really re-gained it. At the 15K sign, I was at almost two hours. I finished the Kent City 15K in 1:47, so I was dropping time like crazy, and my PR was slip-sliding away. I was also starting to stop to fill my bottle with water and Cytomax and started running about 1/2 of each mile and dropping to 14:00 minute miles. I could see the salt crystals on my arm. I grabbed some salt at one of the stations. At about 10 1/2, there was a guy down that was picked up by a fire truck. Everyone that was running went to the left side of the road to make room for the fire truck and just started walking en masse. It made it very difficult to run from there with so many people walking, but I kept up the run/walk thing and ran most of 11 (slowly). The last 1.1 was enormously challenging. Coming over the bridge with everyone struggling was just plain tough. I finished in 2:52 at a 13:13 pace. I was so disappointed. Then, I went through the food line, grabbed a bagel and couldn't chew it because I didn't have any saliva - so I was still really dehydrated. At that point, I was proud that I finished the race at all under such conditions. The others in my group? One runner finished at 2:15 after a mountain bike accident just last week. Two others finished at 2:39 (including my friend - a PR for her - the other sustained an IT band injury). The last finished after three hours with a knee injury from slipping on a cup. We all went to a fabulous Nashville restaurant called the Battered and Fried and had burgers, drinkies and fries. Tired, amazed and happy. As for me, more work to do and a goal to run more of the Sunburst in South Bend in June. Time to seriously deal with my foot issues and dig in and work harder. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement. What a sport!