Summary

April Fools Half, 2:10:57

Training

After trying a variety of “run more” plans, I decided to focus less on miles and more on quality. I used the Hudson half marathon plans for quality workouts but ran 5 days per week. The easy days I kept to 1 hour or less, which meant I’d get no more than 5 miles those days. I based strength training on McMillan's plans, which focus first on balance, then strength, then power.

I felt ok going into the race. My main concern was I was having trouble with pacing. I’d be either slower or much faster than I planned on running.

Goals

A 2:04:09

B 2:05:40

C under 10mm pace

D just don’t run this one slower than the last

B would be a PR. A is the flat equivalent to a hilly half I ran in 2012 in 2:10:03. I ran that very undertrained, think less than 200 miles in the 3 months prior to the race, so increasing miles and not seeing faster races in the last 3 years has been beyond frustrating.

Race Weekend

I packed a wide variety of clothes--everything from tanks, short sleeves, long sleeves and a rain jacket and capris and ⅞ tights. I debated dropping to the 11k, a decision had to be made Friday by 7pm. The forecast for Sunday seemed ok, not great, but bearable, just before I picked my stuff up around 5. I checked again at 8 and it changed and not in a good way.

Friday night & Saturday DH, I and one of his friends from the area hit the casinos. While the weather was not in my favor, gambling was. We left with more money than we started with.

I slept pretty lousy Friday & Saturday night. Sunday got up and went downstairs for breakfast. We stayed at the Marriott, basically a block from the start. It’s quieter than the casinos & is a non-smoking hotel (unlike Resorts). Had my coffee, a bagel & slice of banana bread. The hotel also had out free “runner friendly” snacks--granola bars, bananas, yogurt and water.

Race Day

I hung out inside Resorts as long as possible, maybe a little too long. I probably got in a little too far back in the pack. Unlike the last time I ran the race, after the National Anthem, we started on time.  From my collection of clothes, I settled on the ⅞ tights, short sleeve, long sleeve & rain jacket. I also had on gloves and a visor. There was a light mist/drizzle and wind. Lots of wind. 

Miles 1-3 Boardwalk 9:52, 9:54, 10:10

I got kind of hung up in the pack early on. There were a number of walkers and groups early on. Mile 3 I cursed my rookie decision to wear the rain jacket, so slowed down to a walk to take off the jacket & gloves, move my race number from the jacket to long sleeve and tie the jacket around my waist. I managed to drop a safety pin when I moved my number from the jacket to the long sleeve. I didn’t feel like I was getting into any sort of groove these miles. I was slower than I wanted to be.

Miles 4-9 Road 9:29, 9:30, 9:24, 10:08, 10:12, 10:49

I started getting into a bit of a groove. The crowds had thinned out at this point. Somewhere in mile 5 I passed the high rise condo from hell. I nearly lost my visor, I was able to quickly grab it before it flew off. At this point the wind had been to my back, but this condo must disrupt the wind flow, cause it always seems have swirling winds. My jacket kept twisting around, it seemed like the dumb idea to wear it at all. I didn’t look at my watch at the turnaround, I knew I was slower than PR pace and didn’t feel like doing the math.

Made the turnaround and holy crap. The wind. No wonder it felt pretty effortless on the road. I stopped in mile 7, put the jacket back on and repinned the bib again (this time to my leg in case I had to make another wardrobe swap). Nearly lost the visor again on the return trip past the high rise from hell. The whole time back was a fight against the wind. The rain jacket no longer seemed like a dumb idea, it probably kept the rest of the race tolerable.

Miles 10-13 Back on the Boards 10:33, 10:05, 10:01, 9:26, last .1 8:55

And more wind and misery. I think the boardwalk was even worse than the road because it was open on 1 side (beach side). I tend to find this section the most mentally challenging, as you can see what was the Trump Taj Mahal casino as soon as you enter the boardwalk. It’s past the finish area, but 4 miles away. That wasn’t an issue this time. The first casino (well, what used to be one) was barely visible. I was breaking this section into residential and resort. I was telling myself I just needed to get past the residential area and the resorts would probably provide some relief. The pack had also spread out to the point that there really weren’t any groups to try to draft from. There would be strong gusts where it would almost push me back, then slightly calmer. In the brief lulls, I felt like I was moving only to be hit by a wall of wind. I hadn’t looked at my watch after the turnaround, but there were clocks at the mile markers. I was mentally figuring out what my finish time would be, knowing it was not going to be a PR and that sub 10mm one wasn’t looking too likely either. I hit the resort area and this is where the wind seemed to really seemed to intensify. It was still brief lulls, but the gusts seemed even stronger. I thought I’d have a bit of protection near Caesar’s since there is a covered area between the hotel & pier. Ha! Talk about a wind tunnel. DH was around mile 12.7 or so, he had found an overhang to to watch. I saw him, yelled out “this sucks”. Some of the people around him laughed. I had to check with him after the race, to make sure I hadn’t added an f bomb in there. Finally hit the chute, started an attempt to sprint, hit a huge gust and lost the visor this time. Said f-it, I’m not losing time to run back for it. Crossed the line, got my medal & water, found DH, then walked back to grab the visor.

On our walk back to the hotel, DH said the announcer was saying the wind was 30mph and if you were expecting someone to finish in a certain time, that was unlikely.

FInal thoughts

I’m glad to have stopped the slide of each race getting slower. I think I found a good balance of miles this time around.

Now the decision is when & where to give this another try, or tell me which one. Salisbury 4/28 or Seashore Classic 5/12. Wind could be an issue with both, Salisbury is about 30 miles inland, Seashore race is at the beach, basically the trade off around here is anything flat is near the water. 

Wind can suck the life out of you (and lungs, speaking from experience). Kudos and great job!

Now the decision is when & where to give this another try, or tell me which one. Salisbury 4/28 or Seashore Classic 5/12.

I would go with B, giving you time to recover and ready to get back at it.

It is good that you've found a training balance that you like. I think that is half most of the battle.

Great job in suck conditions!  Nice RR as well.

Great race in shit conditions HC.  The jacket saga was interesting to me, I like the idea of pinning the bib to your leg.  Next time I have a wardrobe dilemma I'll remember that trick!  But seriously, that sounds like it was pure misery, and you ran a great race.

Thanks all.

Fred, I hadn't noticed that about the results, just looked today. Odd. I was talking to some people at the hotel while waiting for our car and they told me a number of people dropped at the halfway point and the cops gave them a ride back. I also noticed some costumed runners hanging around the point where we went back on the boardwalk--I have to wonder if they cut the course short.

LM, the only issue I may have is the number may be tough to view for the pictures, I'll know tomorrow. It definitely seemed to lay a bit flatter. A few gusts seemed to almost tear the thing off when it was on my top (this happened last time I ran this race too).

LRB, I'm thinking option B. I looked at the course and while it's out and back, it's not a straight line like this one. That helps with the wind (a bit). Basically I have accepted the fact that the only option for flat courses is to head near the beach, and it's almost always windy. The next option is the rail trails and I have sucked enough on them recently that I need a change in scenery.