Notes
So I did end up doing Dam to Dam this year (my 5th apparently). After the April injury, trail running, and cool temps in the North country, I was not ready for a hot and humid half marathon on the roads. But when you have a race, you race.
As always, the 1st mile has a big downhill, so my plan of 6min was probably unrealistic. I tried to keep my adrenaline contained and hit 5:47, which is >6min effort I'd say. Plus I was barely ahead of the talkative crowd.
The 2nd mile returned to a modest 5:55, but it still felt like there was a big group breathing down our necks (I was with Adam Best and Andrew Hamer of Central). Partway through we got passed by 2 shirtless dudes; Adam went with them and I hopped on as well.
Those 2 set a solid pace with us occasionally changing leads. The next 4 miles were all just under 5:50, but it wasn't feeling great. The sun was beating down and my legs felt heavy. Still, we were rolling past many of the top women.
Our little group of consistency fell apart when we hit the hills (course was altered due to construction, so instead of a bigger hill, there were several smaller ones) and 1 of our group broke away. The 3 of us left would battle for the next 4 miles (which included 2 5:56's and 2 6:06's... uffda). It was a weird dynamic though, as no one led for long stretches; basically, if you felt good and took the lead, you would be feeling terrible in a minute or two. We had a lot of lead swaps and gaps forming. I don't know how many times I got just 5ft behind the other 2 and presumptively accepted that I would be dropped. Simply put, there was a lot of despair in the suffering of a race.
Nearing 10 miles, we were finally getting some shade, but I was still barely holding on to 1 guy as Best was 10m ahead. But the marina hill was coming and that gave me some mojo. Before I knew I had caught Best and passed him. I pulled away on the flat after the hill, though I was still going quite slow. This boost in confidence got me energized and I got rolling through the downhill shaded bike path, catching 1 guy.
By mile 11, we were back in the sun, and I had Falco in front of me, and no one behind. Falco had hit the 1st couple miles quick and then we had similar paces, with him being about 30sec ahead most of the race. After my initial surge to get close to him, I was still making up ground on him, but not much. The detour around construction was frustrating as well, and then we only had a long stretch on MLK, which is always terrible. I probably had enough to push harder, but I slowed and my last mile was 6:12. Falco finished 7sec ahead of me.
This was a frustrating race because of the pace and feeling like crap, but even in these conditions, you expect more people to crash and burn (everyone suffered and slowed, but I only saw 1 guy walking as we passed). Yet despite my slowest half ever, I was still 25th place, just 1 spot behind my best showing last year. I can at least be optimistic about my fitness
"Season" Recap
This was an odd spring, definitely the least amount of racing I've done from Jan-June in all my years of running. Only 5 races, all with their quirks. I wasn't ready for Alumni Steeple and I hurt my hamstring; the Leprechaun Chase was shortened to a 5k; Norse Relays 1600 was a tactical affair; then I fully succumbed to my compounding injuries before doing a fun but lonely trail 25k and this heated half.
Seems like things could have been much worse. Though I didn't make any gains in fitness, I don't think I lost much. I only took 2 weeks completely off, which might have been the plan anyway. And I seem to have returned to decent shape already. So though I didn't have the spring I wanted, I am currently in a great place considering
1) I am fit enough
2) I seem healthy again
3) I don't have to take time off now!
I have 2 months to train for Headwaters, then 2 months to train for the Army 10 miler. Then hopefully my fall of trail races will go much better.
P.S. I also bid a non-tearful farewell to the 25-29 age group, you were brutal, and I look forward to actually placing in my age group again (potentially...)