Notes
OK I should probably log this (over a week overdue).
Fantastic day. I didn't sleep great in Brenna's bed - mostly due to Ogie's whining but also nerves that kept me awake. It didn't really affect me though. Noah's drip coffee woke me right up. The poop juice also worked its magic in the bathroom so getting that taken care of was a real stress reliever honestly. The weather also started to look really good when I woke up. I was nervous all weekend because it started snowing on Saturday night and it was supposed to continue through the race with high winds. It ended up being breezy but no snow and like 35. Claire dropped us off at the capitol with our shit and I realized right after she zoomed off that I left my jacket in the car. That really bit me in the booty after the race. We warmed up with all our stuff in our hands - one easy loop around the square, then did the rest of our pre-race stuff - gear check, port-a-potty run, put on the racers, get to the starting line. I saw a lot of Saucony Endorphin Pros that I was twinning with. Can't stop the carbon-plate movement. We panicked when we were like a quarter mile from the start line and heard the announcer say something about the race starting in 10 seconds and we looked at our watches that were at 7:05. Race was supposed to start at 7:10. Luckily it was just the 10k or something but I swear he said half marathon. Anyway, we found spots near the front just in time for the gun and we were off.
Mile 1: Lots of people, lots of fun, just cruisin downhill, did a lot of passing cuz I guess I started a little too far back. 6 min exactly but I was trying to be really reserved - adrenaline made that feel more like a 6:40
Mile 1.5: Some group in front of me went the wrong way. At mile 1.5.... I don't blame them - I really blame the race coordinators for not making it obvious where we needed to be going. We ended up going like a block or two on the marathon course which went the opposite direction and I knew that didn't feel right so I yelled if we were going the right way and people started turning around so I turned around with them. I still wasn't feeling 100% confident we were going the right way even though we were because I didn't know exactly where the wrong turn started. I ended up adding about a quarter mile to the run. Noah caught up to me and we exchanged pleasantries before I quickly made my way to the front of the new pack.
Miles 2-5: I was running completely alone and fucking pissed off which honestly gave me quite a bit of energy. I could see probably a half mile in front of me and didn't see a single runner until about mile 5. There was one fork in the course for the 10k around mile 4 and I gestured towards the 10k course to the 2 race organizers basically asking if I was supposed to go that way and one of them nodded yes so I went that way and turned back saying "half marathon?" and she was like "oh no that's this way" wtf. Now I was running even more PO'd. That blunder didn't really add much distance though, just made me slow down a bit which was honestly good cuz I was putting down some faster miles than I was planning at this point.
Mile 6: Saw my fan club. Super cool to see everyone who came out - the rents, Marilyn, Claire, Emma, Brenna, Sophia, Natalie, Mel, the tmmte himself Jake. I also started to relax more at this point and just said whatever about the extra quarter mile, I'll just run my race and enjoy it. I still had my GPS watch to know what my time could have been. Claire also handed me my double espresso goo here but I held onto it for a bit.
Mile 8: This mile had a weird out and back part that was there to basically just add I'd say a quarter mile to the course. The thought crossed my mind that I could just go straight and cut off that quarter mile to reconcile the extra quarter mile I ran earlier but I flicked the devil off my shoulder just ran the out and back. Seemed too low for me even though the race organizers did me dirty. Also took my goo at this point and started to see a few more people I could catch. Holding my goo in my hand for a few miles warmed it up and it slipped right down the gullet.
Mile 9: This mile finished with a monster hill. I knew it was coming. I made sure not to take it too hard even though I had energy left. Once crested, I decided to turn it up a little cuz that 100mg of caffeine was coursing through my veins now. I was also starting to realize based on my watch time at the mile markers that I could still break 1:20 if I could string together some miles at 5:50 or quicker.
Miles 10-12: I did exactly that. 5:41, 5:46, 5:47. Body was just movin on it's own at this point.
Miles 13-13.43: Now we got to the business end of the race. I knew I had the sub-1:20 if I didn't die on the last hill towards the capitol. The course met up with the 5k or maybe 10k course at this point and I was passing a bunch of people. The hill was painful but manageable enough to keep pushing. I also saw more half marathoners in the last stretch so that helped me find some gears. Watch passed 13.1 in 1:17:45 but I still had a quarter mile to go so I just held onto my pace until my fan club screamed energy into me to kick past one more guy and cross the line in 1:19:40. Noah got his sub-1:30 goal - 1:28:something - with honestly minimal training. His longest run was 8 miles and he does most runs at 7:30 pace
I was extremely pleased with this and I set the bar pretty high for myself in my next HM. Also really happy that I had so many people supporting me even though it wasn't my first HM and probably won't be my last so I'm sure it's not a big deal to them but I made it a big deal for myself so I'm glad they supported that. This race also led me to my longest running streak - 185 days - and that's definitely something to be proud of. I couldn't maintain a streak the whole time but that was for the best. I'll take at least a week off now. Lessons learned:
1. 70 miles/week is about my max right now. If I want to go farther next time, I need to do some more stretching and stability exercises and be extra attentive to what my body is telling me.
2. Consistency is key. I had a lot of bad runs, but I got out there and did it every day for 185 days and I attribute most of my success today to that.
3. So long as I put in the work for months in base training, I'll be fit. Even though the last month of training was really poor, I could still go at there and surprise myself on race day.
4. I should drink poop juice more often
5. I have great family and friends
6. Noah's a beast
7. This is fun and I should do it again. Already signed up for the green bay FULL marathon in May :)