Background/Training - Well, that has pretty much been covered in the weekly updates here - I trained for this half harder than almost any other half I've run (my PR and my now-third-fastest half were both in the midst of marathon training). I was running some quicker times in my speedwork and felt that a 2:05 or at least a PR (sub 2:12:58) would be a reasonable goal. I ran 3 10 milers, a 12, a hilly 13.1, a 14, and a 16 mile run in training.
The Race - I was definitely not prepared for how much warmer the race would be than what I had trained in, nor did I realize how much it would affect me pretty much from the start of the race. I wore shorts and a t shirt, but started sweating pretty much as soon as we started running. The first few miles were fairly flat, and there were some small spots of shade. I started off on pace - 9:24, 9:20, 9:50, 9:22, 9:47 were my first 5 miles. After that point, we crossed over the river to the hilly, sunny side with no shade whatsoever. I was definitely feeling hot by this point, drinking as much Gatorade and water as my stomach could handle. My legs felt ok, but I had a hard time getting into a rhythm with my breathing - I just could not seem to catch my breath. I stopped checking my watch every mile at this point, but I kept pushing on and not letting up. I took a GU at mile 7, and that seemed to help a bit as we turned around and ran back towards the shadier, flatter side of the river. My legs (hips/glutes/quads) started to cramp up a bit as we hit mile 10, and my race plan sort of faltered from "go all out" at the 10 mile mark to "keep running steady" at the 10 mile mark. By the time I hit mile 12, my legs were turning to jello and I could barely breath, and switched to "keep running and make it to the finish line upright". By the time I crossed the finish line, I did not have a single bit of energy left and those last few steps were definitely a struggle. I was a little bummed when I saw that I was so close to a PR, but no cigar - 2:13:42, but I was absolutely drained and felt like I pushed myself pretty much as hard as I could. I feel like kind of a wimp for having the heat impact me so much, but it was definitely a good 15-20 degrees warmer than anything I trained in on a regular basis and I guess it just took too much out of me. I think if I keep my training up over the spring and summer I definitely have it in me to run a faster time - just need good running weather and maybe some longer speedwork/faster long runs.
Up Next - DBF and I are hoping to climb The Brothers (6,800 feet peak in the Olympic Mountains) sometime in May (more on that soon), and then I am running a 10K in Portland on June 9, and the Cottage Lake super sprint triathlon is on June 16. I am going to try to keep doing a longer run every other weekend or so, but focus more on cross-training/lifting/speedwork and getting down to my goal weight. Onward and upward!
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