What: North Shore Half Marathon

Results: 1:49:11. Age Group: 14/83 (F 20-24) 180/1336-Females. Overall: 563/2390

28 seconds off my PR of 1:48:43. 8 some minutes off my PR of 1:57 on this course last year.

This was my 4th HM, and last year this was my first ever HM. I've been running since 2004, but took 2 1/2 years off during college and started up again last year (hence the big difference in my PRs from last year and from back in 2008) I didn't run much this winter as I had just started my nursing clinicals and had a hard time balancing running/work/school. Started running "seriously" again around mid March. Ran a HM 4 weeks ago in 2:06 that I ran with a friend and just kind of used as a long run, which is uncharacteristic of me since I am very competitive, but I knew I was not in racing shape. The last 4 weeks I've trained pretty decent, but haven't incorporated much speedwork except for 1 tempo run and 1 day of 1000s repeats.

Going into this race I knew a PR was extremely unlikely (PR is 1:48:43) given it's a pretty hilly course and I haven't done much speedwork lately. The one tempo run I did was an 8:24 pace, and to PR I'd need an 8:18 so I wasn't counting on it. I still wanted to race all out though to see where I was since I start marathon training next week for my first marathon in the fall. I haven't ran any shorter races lately to gauge where I'm at, so I really had no idea what I would run. I ran a 1:57 on this course last year, and decided I'd be happy with anything under 1:55.

I ran the race with a friend I've done a few HMs with. Weather sucked. Mid 50s, windy, and raining. Rained the WHOLE time. bleh. Better than when it was 85 last year though I suppose! It's a smaller race, 2300 people or so. But it brings out some FAST people because there's prize money. First 4 men came in at 1:05x and the winning women's time was a 1:14 something.  We were in corral C out of corrals A-G. We started and I was feeling good. First mile felt extremely easy, which is ironic because my "easy" pace is usually around 9:20ish, and anytime I go under 9:00s it feels super hard, but apparently when I race it doesn't bother me. By mile 2 I was ready to pick up the pace, and my friend wasn't. She had told me that if I felt like I needed to go I could go, but I could tell she wanted us to stay together. Looking back now I realize that as nice as it is to drive to a race with someone, I prefer racing by myself because when I enter a race I want to Race.  However, at the same time she was able to hold me back which may be good because otherwise I might have gone out wayyy too fast which I tend to do in 5Ks. I stayed with her until about mile 6 when we hit the "big" hill, and then I took off.

I knew a PR was extremely unlikely, especially since I had gone out kind of slow, but heck if I wasn't going to try! From mile 6 on I started negative splitting like crazy, and my last 5 miles were all under 8:00, which my last mile being a 7:42.  Which was insane to me given on the 1000s repeats I did earlier this week my best split only came out to a 7:44 pace. The last 5 miles were a lot of fun, because all I did was pass people, I never got picked off except right at the end when 2 guys out kicked me. They were tough miles though too, with rolling hills all the way, and considering my 5k PR from last year was 23:42 i was running pretty close to my 5K pace after already having run 8 miles. I knew it was going to be close as far as a PR went and I knew how mad I'd be at myself if I didn't give it my all. I missed my PR by 28 seconds and came in at 1:49:11. Splits from my Garmin are below!

I'm still extremely happy with my time, because it is a hilly course and I really did not think my fitness level right now was anywhere close to that.  I feel like I could have PR'd today if I had gone out faster and just tried to keep even splits, but at the same time I'm pretty giddy and happy to see that I've still good some sub 8 miles in me even with little speedwork this year, and my paces this year in my runs have not indicated that I was at this fitness level.  My friend came in right under 2 hours, and she wasn't upset at all that I went ahead since she had said before it was okay if I did, and we usually split up during the races we run.

What did I learn? That as nice as it is to have a running buddy for races I'm definitely a "solo" racer. I'm extremely competitive against myself, and rarely can I run a race and just "run" it. I also realized that I must psyche myself out on my everyday runs or something, because when I did those 1000s repeats most of them were right around an 8:00 mile pace, and they felt HARD. But when I'm racing it feels way easier. I know a lot of it is just the racing atmosphere, but I need to learn to stop psyching myself out on everyday easy runs. I also need to get better and going out slightly faster, and holding a pace the whole way. However, I do like that I am able to negative split and I am a very strong 2nd half runner. Distance running (HMs and above) is definitely where my strength is ( My 2 mile and 4K PRs are obviously a lot faster, but that was back when i was running track and xc in high school and I never ran any longer races back then).

I tried to add a picture of my sweet medal, blue tech t-shirt, and free lunch bag but I can't figure it out and I'm too lazy right now. But thanks for reading! 

I've looked into my crystal ball and see a huge PR for you in the future. I'd estimate about 24:05-24:10 for your last 5K. That is amazing after running 10 miles.

Great job.  Coming so close to your PR without a ton of training is awesome, and bodes really well moving forward.  You should have a nice base under you now for some good, consistent marathon training.  As for the racing, I total agree about needing to do it by yourself - it's nice to have someone to share the training and experience with, but your fitness is never going to match up exactly when it comes to the race, and you should be able to do the best you can on a given day.  Remember that feeling of negative splitting that you had today and try to replicate it in your marathon.  If you can force it to feel easy through the first half, the back of it will be a lot more fun, and you'll run a faster time than if you crash.

Congrats Runshorti.  You ran a great race despite the crappy weather.  We were in your dust, a half hour behind you.   Now I don't have to do a RR. Lol

Docket - Thanks!

WC - I hope so! I still haven't quite figured out how to pace a HM. I did good with the negative splitting, however I think if next time I go out a little faster and try to keep more even splits I'll do better

redrum - Thanks!

SoImARunner - Thanks! I definitely want to try and replicate the feeling for my marathon. I know it's much harder to negative split in a marathon, but I'd like to try and be close because it definitely helps mentally.

Scotty - I wish!  Highland Park, IL

Jerry - I would still love to read it if you do! That's awesome you were there too! I forgot you lived in the area. What weather for a HM huh? Ugh! Last year it was 85 degrees and this year this!

Rabbit- Thanks!

Congrats, you're right about those splits.  With the final miles at 1:00 faster than the first ones and approaching 5K pace, you ran really well.

Nice job, and good luck getting that PR with a more even effort next time.

That's some pretty sick negative splitting! Your PRs are going to come tumbling down.

What were they handing out at that 7 mile water station?  Way to pick up the pace and finish like a boss.