National Half: race report (Read 523 times)

For my first RA race report, I’ll lead with the bad. I didn’t manage to make the 6:30 RA meetup outside the armory because I was running around, including taking care of some *ahem* business. I very much wanted to put some faces with names, but maybe next time I’ll leave myself more room for error. Temperatures were cold (32 or so) at the start but not windy, with a warming forecast, so they were, as the race announcer put it, no excuse conditions. Bart Yasso agreed with a “yah.” The fastest mayor in the US was there to run the marathon (he’s not as fast as Roberto Madrazo, but he’s still very fast). Waiting for the start gun, the bpm reading on my watch was showing 82, which is a bit high for me. I didn’t worry about it, though, since I wasn’t wearing my heart monitor. Some poor person near me must not have had a pulse. My goal for the race was to a hold a 7 minute pace, which would put me a little under 1:32. My PR going in was in the high 1:37s, but I had several advantages today. The weather for that one constituted many excuses conditions. I’d put in many more miles. I now raced in lighter shoes. I hadn’t shaved since Wednesday, which while slowing me down slightly aerodynamically made me look tougher. Plus my most recent race, a 5 miler, projected to a 1:31, a big extrapolation but reason for hope. Given all that, I had a simple plan. Keep a 7 minute pace through the first 7 miles, which then would leave me at the high point of the race, with only one net uphill mile left (mile 12). That was the plan, anyway. And we’re off. Stevie Ray and others indicated that it wouldn’t be a mess at the start despite the 8,000 or so racers. They were correct. I did not see the person from my running club I was hoping to pace off for the first mile or two, so I adopted another person the right speed from my club and settled into a comfortable pace. I tend to start too fast some times, so I kept telling myself to keep it comfortable. Then mile 1 came up: 1 7:17 (7:17) OK, not that comfortable. I’m +17. Way too early to panic, though, so I just picked it up slightly, aided by a nice downhill on Constitution past the Rayburn building to glide into mile 2: 2 6:43 (14:00) Even steven. I’m doing the cumulative times in my head and showing splits on my watch. Of course, I could toggle back and forth between modes, but that’s too much button pushing for me. And I like looking at my watching and knowing roughly where I am in the current mile. Now into mile 3: 3 6:43 (20:43) Oops, now I’m a touch fast. I made an effort to dial it back. There’s 10 miles left, and miles 5-7 are the toughest part of the course. Miles 3 and 4 are flat miles near museums, monuments, and other famous buildings. Going in, I thought this would be a nice way to see the city compared to speeding by in my car. In practice, though, I’m just staring at fanny packs, posteriors, and the backs of t-shirts. For the last few blocks of the mile, you can see the leaders going the other way. Not the race leaders, as they are way off the front already, but still some very speedy people. And that’s mile 4: 4 7:02 (27:45) There we go. At this point, I’m feeling like I’ve mastered the pace and am debating whether I am more like Ty Webb (See the pace. Be the pace) or like Robocop after he is damaged and recalibrating his gun. In the end, I settle on Chevy Chase over Peter Weller. The hills are starting, but I’m still feeling fine. And it’s: 5 7:03 (34:48) Holding the pace in the hills. That’s a good sign. The next mile will be tougher though. But: 6 7:02 (41:50) At this point, I know I am close to my 7/49 target. Mile 7 is the toughest of the course, though, with a steepish incline near the Washington Hilton where Reagan was shot. I pass through the 10k split and see a 43x on the clock (gun time). Last year on this same weekend I ran a 10k in the low 44s and was very pleased with the result. I’ve made progress since then. So where am I: 7 7:21 (49:11) I can figure from the split that I’m slightly behind pace. But now things get easier, so if I can maintain the effort I’ll make my stated goal. The high point of the race for me comes at the end of this mile. A group of Howard students are set up outside a dorm, blasting music, dancing in the cold, and cheering on the runners. I give them a big thumbs up, get rewarded with much love, and fly down the hill before climbing the hill past Childrens’ Hospital. It’s getting easier: 8 6:38 (55:49) I remember little about this mile, and this race report is starting to take longer than the race. 9 6:43 (1:02:32) Mile 10 might be the most downhill mile of the race. It sure seemed fast, and it was confirmed by my split, the fastest one yet: 10 6:28 (1:09:00) A gun clock was at mile 10, reading 1:09:15ish, so I knew I was close to 1:09. It turns out I was right on 1:09. Here I had to decide whether I would pursue my reach goal, a sub-1:30. I was still feeling strong, but I doubted I had a sub 21 5k left in me. The last 3 miles were flat: 11 6:40 (1:15:40) Net uphill: 12 6:57 (1:22:37) and net downhill: 13 6:23 (1:29:00) And my last mile was my fastest, just under sub-20 5k pace. Turn the corner for the finish, and I see I’m under 1:30 gun time, with my watch checking in 1:29:4x. I turned in a finishing 5k of 20:47. What a great, precious day for racing.

Nice work!!! Congrats on achieving your goal.

Congrats!! That's an awesome time! I think it was a super fast course which was nice. I really enjoyed running it. Awesome job dude

Great job! And I agree, the Howard students' music and the steep downhill was an exciting section

Thanks for the congrats. As you all know, it's nice to reap the payoffs from training. And based on my log stalking, everyone looked to have good races, with PRs galore. Tramps liked the day so much he ran an extra half mile. In case you didn't hear, all 4 records fell today. The winner in the marathon ran 5 miles with an untied shoe, which shows that the recent lengthy article in Runners World on how to tie shoes was not a waste of space.

AWESOME JOB!!!!!!!!!