Notes
2nd Annual Illinois Half Marathon - wasn't planning on waking up until 5:45 but roommate woke up at more like 5:15 so I just laid in bed till my alarm went off - Ate a cliff bar at 5:45 and got ready - went for a 3/4 mi walk at 6:20 with music outside to wake up and get the legs goin - this was really worth it and felt good - dressed and went to the bathroom - left dorm at 6:50 and ran to armory to meet Zeman - stretched calves a bit there but they didn't even need it - we kept goin and got to the starting line (1st & St. Mary's) at 7:10ish - went pretty quickly through most stretches - stretched calves but they felt so loose anyway!!! - moved towards our corral at about 7:20 and found Silver there - jumped around a bit and did a few strides - once we saw that the race was starting late we did some more strides and and walked around some more - race started 15 minutes late! - everything felt really loose and good at the start - we started right in second row of people - about ten meters into the race Zeman disappeared all of a sudden behind us...he had fallen and was rolling on the ground - he must have gone down hard - Silver and I slowed up unsure of what happened and thinking he would catch up, but then someone else told us he had walked off the course to a med person - we picked it back up...devastated - our first half mile was really slow (3:15) but then we made it up in the second half - Silver and I stayed together until mile marker 4 when he took off - I felt really good down green street and into Urbana - mile 3 must have been a down hill - I ran mile 5 alone and then meet Dec, Sean, and Gadz at the start of the 6th - they carried me through the wretched new neighborhood by Stony Creek, but I was starting to feel it - at about 6.5mi I kinda hit a wall - there was a hill there and it really git me - if those guys weren't with me I probably would have slowed down a ton more - Talbot joined us at mile marker 8 as we entered Meadowbrook - the sun started coming out around now and it got hot (not to mention the 95% humidity) - I kinda hit another wall at this point and the pace slowed even more - calves were still great, and stomach was fine, but cardio just wasn't there - I knew 6 flat was asking a bit much in track season and now I was paying for it - everyone but talbot dropped out at mile marker 10 - Talbot stayed with me till right before I entered the stadium to finish - I basically died more and more every mile, but it would have been much worse without him - really nothin to speak of but lack of cardio and muggy weather for the last few miles - entering the stadium was a real rush with all the people and the music - R quad tightened up a bit right after finished but not that bad - I was happy when I saw the first woman come in (this field definitely wasn't as competitive as Chicago) - kinda sad I didn't win my age group, but I did run slower, and there were almost twice as many in my age group this time - drank a water bottle and two cups of gatorade then grabbed bagel, granola bar, and banana - met Dad and then saw my pacer group on the field - stretched pretty well and then cooled down REALLY slowly with Gadz out to find mom - we ran all the way down Penn looking at all the runners and finally found her at Dorner - we jogged back half with her and then I ran the last few hundred meters with her into the stadium - my legs were really dead at this point - a 3mi cool down was not really what I was looking for - stretched some more with mom and then we drove to HH for lunch - laid in bed and iced calves for a few hours while I did some work - later at night, R quad and L calf really the only things tight/sore - Mile Splits: 6:05, 6:01, 5:48, 6:05, 6:01, 6:13, 6:18, 6:10, 6:22, 6:25, 6:23, 6:37, 7:08 (1.1mi - 6:30 pace) - moral of the story? This is track season, and this mileage and training only gets me so far for a half - I'm in 6:15 shape - I went out at 6flat pace and paid for it in the second half of the race - I'm still pretty happy despite the not so uplifting end of a race - calves were amazing the entire time, which is a prize in itself, and stomach was great as well