Notes
The New Bedford Half-Marathon.
I haven't run this race since 2014 & 2015. In 2014 I set my former half-marathon PR (1:17:06) running with Simon for the first time in a race and in 2015 the two of us did a MP workout (1:22.XX) that felt worse than racing (I was coming back from popping my hamstring in the 200m race at BU).
My expectations were in check before this one. I was definitely in super good shape (probably the best of my life) the day Ruth was born and I've kept things going to some degree.... 30, 40, 50 mile weeks here and there, but I wasn't sure how the lack of sleep would manifest itself at the end of the day. If I'd run this last weekend I would have been walking by the 6th mile, but (praise be to Andy) I actually got a lot of sleep in the 4 days leading up to this and felt relatively normal the day before. That was a weird feeling!
I did a short warm-up with Tay, less than a mile I think, and one stride. I've justified not warming for a marathon based on starting at 6:30 pace, but starting sub 6:00 is a different thing. Still I didn't feel unwarmed-up when the gun went off. I did however feel like I was behind a ton of people. Our late warm-up got me caught further back than I would have liked and it took some creative sidewalk jumping in the first 300m to avoid running 8:00 pace.
First couple miles clicked off without incident. I was planning around 6 flat for the first four and then getting into on the fast Rockdale stretch. i was a little quicker than that, but felt good. Because I started so far back I continually had to bridge gaps up to people and wasn't actually a similar pace to anyone around me until the 4th mile. The wind was a little more out the west than north this year, so the turn at 3 miles went straight into, but it's nice running that mile and a half stretch knowing the reward you get when you turn south, i.e. the course gets fast.
For the whole start of the race I could see Kieran bobbing along on the outside about 60-100m up on me. As we ground up the last early hill from 3-3.5 I started closing in on him and decided it would be stupid to run the whole thing 50m off his back, so I put in some pace as we crested the hill and was along side him, Jon Cusick and Longo by the 4th mile marker.
Five years ago Simon and I ran some 5:40 miles along this stretch 4-7 and I remember seeing the splits that some of the other guys put and realizing we might have been a bit cautious. In any case, I was in the mood to push a little and I was feeling good so Kieran and I started rolling at 5:35. It felt good. The 7th mile is by far the fastest mile on the course, but it was still a little shocking to see it click off at 5:26. The thing was I was feeling good and trying to ignore the paces. I assumed the whole time that we get to the flats and settled back in at 5:50 or so, the way I did back in 2014. But as we got to the bottom I kept pushing. Down the hill we'd picked up Zach and Paulo, but by the time I was half way through the 8th mile I felt alone. I never looked around, but when I saw the flat 8th (but slightly wind-aided) mile was 5:32 I knew I was probably pulling away from people. That aggressiveness is really uncharacteristic for me, but I was definitely in the mood for the fight that was coming. The 9th and 10th mile were a little slower. There's a slight bump in the 9th and half the tenth mile is after the tough turn north, but there were both still under 5:40. That made a 6 mile stretch in 33:26. Oooff.
Before the race I told myself I definitely had a good 10 miles in me, but I didn't know about 13. Five years ago, when Simon and I went through 10 miles on the way to 1:17 we were at 58:41. Today I went through in 57:04.
Things got hard in the 11th and 12th mile and I slowed to 5:45 pace. I was still picking people off and knew I wasn't collapsing completely, but I wasn't running quite as strong. I slowed to about 6:15 pace up the last hill from 11.8 to 12.5, but crested it feeling good and pushed the 13th mile down under 5:50 on the last 200m which are downhill.
Then the last 200m turns back with the wind for the first time in half an hour, and so a good sprint was in order. Legs were definitely a little wobbly though.
Crossed in 1:15:02.... 2 minute and 4 second PR. Third SRR behind Kluz and Isaac who both ran 1:14. Patrick H, Zach, Kieran, Patrick L, Paulo, Longo, Brian and Jon all came in not long after. It was a good deep day for SRR.
Biggest take-way: Super fun to feel aggressive (reckless) through 7-10 and to get rewarded for it. Honestly, I credit the Scott Fauble book Inside a Marathon for this one. I'm only half-way through it, but it's inspiring and makes me want to throw (running) bombs.
One thing that helped though is that the weather didn't have the normal New Bedford bite. The wind was coming more across the course than the other times I've run it and so there wasn't that feeling at the 9.5 turn where you have to brace yourself against it. It was hurting, but it wasn't bad.
I now have to talk myself out of targeting 2:40 as a stretch goal for the Fall. There, I said it.