This weekend was the Towpath Half Marathon....the final piece to Team Oravec's 2011 racing season puzzle. Thank goodness! Let's see...since Rev3, 3 weeks ago, I have done a total of 5 running workouts and have been sick for going on two weeks now. I have had no energy, no real appetite, and had a general sense of feeling like crap. Pretty much my routine consisted of coming home from work, going to bed, and getting up the next morning to go back to work. My nutrition has consisted of Campbell's soup, Saltine crackers, and Theraflu. Matt is thinking of taking me to rehab because he is convinced I have an addiction to Theraflu. Most people get cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol abuse. Not me, I am going to get it from cold and flu medicine.
That being said, I thought of every way possible to try getting out of this half marathon. I continually told Matt that I didn't want to run it and didn't even want to try walking it. I even thought of offering the registration to my boss's wife (a big no no, I know), but I was desperate to get out of it. I saw nothing good coming from it. Matt, kindly reminded me that I was the one who wanted to sign up for this race and so I was obligated to do it, regardless of the fact that I felt like crap. He hates wasting money on unused race fees. But unleash him in Home Depot and he will easily drop $200 on a tool that will only be used once in our lifetime, just because he needed it for this collection of other unused but "cool tools that may someday come in handy". I get it. So, no luck for me on getting out of the race.
We went for packet pickup on Saturday afternoon and ended up taking the dogs with us to go on a little nature walk afterwards. Packet pickup was at Boston Mills which is right next to the towpath and some really cool hiking trails. We spent about an hour or so hiking with the dogs.
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| Frankie mastered the jump on this massive tree. Glad to see those agility classes are still paying off! |
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| View at one of the highest points on our hike. |
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| This is also where we conveniently found a $5 bill laying on the ground! |
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| Me taking a breather! |
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| ...And enjoying the view. I decided that Matt and I need to have a picnic here someday! |
After we got back to the car, like I said an hour later, I asked Matt if he thought that hike was about 13 miles. He turned to me an laughed. To which I hung my head and just thought that I was going to be in a world of hurt tomorrow during the race. The hike alone made me exhausted and it was probably only on the order of 2-3 miles.
With the race being in our hometown we shouldn't have had to get up as early as we did, but they decided to close all the roads an hour before the race even started so we had to be there before 7am. Plus the traffic and parking for this race are horrible if you don't get there early. We got there at 6:30 and still waited in traffic for a good 15-20 minutes.
It was a chilly morning and I had trouble deciding what to wear. I ended up with my TNT tank top, arm warmers, and compression socks just to keep warm, but not be too hot during the race. It was supposed to be 80° later in the day. The arms warmers and compression socks were an excellent choice for me as I was kind of cold for most of the race. Matt and I made sure to hit the port-a-pot lines early as last year I was still in line as everyone was lining up to start the race. Lesson learned. I also came prepared this year with my own roll of TP as they ran out last year. Same thing happened this year only this time I was the one people were desperately trying to make friends with as I flashed my nice fluffy roll of white goodness while standing in line. Thankfully for everyone else the race volunteers eventually brought out some more TP. If you ever want to make some good money I would suggest selling TP at marathons!
When it was time to line up Matt gave me a kiss good luck and I headed to the middle of the pack. I was really calm at this point and just kind of planned on going out and jogging at a comfortable pace. Ultimately I had two goals for the day: 1) not to walk and 2) to aim for a sub 2 hour race. Really I had no idea how I would feel and if my body would hold up...it was a total crap shoot. When the gun went off I headed out at a 9 min to 9:30 pace. I didn't want to push it at the beginning as normally I go out way too fast. I was mindful of my watch and kept telling myself to slow down when the pace crept down. Overall I was surprised at how good I felt. I kept this pace until mile 4 when we actually got to the towpath part of the race. This is the part I love. It is our home course. We run it practically every day and this time of year it is absolutely beautiful with the leaves changing colors.
I was feeling ok at this point and remembered from my last speed workout how much better I felt when I turned up the pace to an 8:30-8:45. So, I decided to try it and go with it for a little bit. I sped up the cadence and quickly found myself running 8-8:30 splits. I was feeling really good and passing people left and right at this point. It really helped that we had watched Kona the night before. I used this as alot of motivation to keep pushing myself. It's amazing what the body can do if the mind does not have the chance to take over. One thing I did notice though, and this is the first time this has ever happend to me, was that I was hungry. As soon as I realized I was hungry I also realized I forgot to take my Honey Stinger gel out of my gear check bag and put it in my pocket. CRAP! Here I am actually hungry for once, pushing my pace, and no gel! I feared the worst...a total bonk. The reason I think I was hungry was because I took an Immodium before the race. I normally don't do this and I think it actually helped out alot as my stomach was not upset at all thus making me able and wanting to eat something. I tried to ignore it best I could and hoped they would have Gu or Hammer Gel on the course at some point. I avoided taking any Gatorade until the last three miles as I didn't want my stomach to get upset this early on.
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| Taking water from my favorite water girl and fellow TNT teammate, Susan! |
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| Double-fisting it with water and Gatorade at mile 11. I was desperate at this point! |
I was surprised at how long I was able to push this pace. It just felt really good and my legs were not in opposition to turning over with this faster cadence. Another thing I kept telling myself was that if I could just make it to mile 8 at the turnaround point then I would have set myself up pretty to enjoy the rest of the race and slow it down a notch...although I think this attitude ended up hurting me in the long run.
At the mile 5 aid station there was a girl handing out what I was hoping was Gu, but when I looked at it again it was a Powerbar gel. I have never had one of these before, but I have not had a good experience with other Powerbar products so I handed it back and said no thanks. As hungry as I was I could not risk getting sick that early. So, I just stuck with small sips of water at each aid station. Lesson learned...don't forget your nutrition!
Mile 8 came quickly and it was at about mile 9 where I started to bonk. I don't know if I was actually tired or if it was just because I kept telling myself I could slow down at this point that mentally I had shut down and wasn't able to keep up the pace. I got passed by alot of the people that I had passed earlier on and it was a bit demoralizing, but I wasn't too upset as I was happy to have made it this far doing as well as I did. I slowed down to a 9:30-10 min pace and told myself that I wasn't allowed to walk and I had to try and keep 10 min as my ultimate slowest pace. The last four miles were the toughest and the finish line couldn't come soon enough. I knew I would be very close to making it in 2 hours, but I couldn't push any harder. I actually tried to pick up the pace at the last quarter mile where the crowd was lined up cheering people on, but doing that made me instantly feel like I was going to vomit. I did not want to puke in front of all those people so I just kept on my slow pace until I crossed the line. I was so happy to see that the clock read 1:58 something. That meant I achieved both my goals!
I was shocked to see how much of a base I still had and what I was still capable of doing even though I hadn't been feeling well and hadn't done much in the way of working out since Rev3. Although this time was nowhere near my half marathon PR I knew I went into the race knowing I was not going to set any PR's and just hoping not to die out on the course. The body is truly an amazing thing and I am definitely excited to work on my mental game and my speed for next season. I actually learned alot about my body in this race and am super excited to carry this over into my training. Overall it was a beautiful day and an awesome way to end my season. I couldn't have been happier with the way things turned out!
