Yep, that's my new PR (personal record) for a ½ marathon. It happened on what is known by many to be a really tough race – the Seattle ½ Marathon – for a few reasons:
- The toughest hills are in the 2nd half of the course.
- The weather in Seattle at the end of November tends to suck. In 2006, it was borderline icy.
- The organization of the race is something that runners continuously complain about (i.e., running out of water at some of the stops, having to climb a boatload of steps to get your clothes at the end of the race).
- Generally you have a few extra pounds on you from Thanksgiving.
Given how hard the course is as well as the typical weather pattern, I was only hoping to beat my previous PR of 2:05:29. I wasn't expecting to reach a more longer-term goal of getting in under 2 hours. Seriously, it never even entered my head for this race for all of the above reasons. Plus do you know how hard it is to shave 5 ½ minutes off of a ½ marathon time? You're talking about almost 30 seconds per mile! No way.
Clearly Coach had a different plan in mind. I am a person who really thrives on preparation by driving as much of the course that I can (usually dragging along Marc) and scopes out how bad the worst hills are so I can run the equivalent ones in training. So Lesley decided to organize a run that mimicked a good 75% of the course a couple of weeks before the race.
The weather was crappy and I wasn't feeling too stellar, but I got a sense of the hills and built up some more confidence in running a decent pace in the race. The pace was set by Lesley and when she told me that I was running close to a 9:00 min/mile pace for most of the run, I was pretty happy. I was set.
Marc and I decided to golf with our good friends, JoAnna and Mary, for Thanksgiving at Bandon Dunes. We had a great time and I got to hang out with my regular caddie, Todd. Todd even took us on a preview of the new course, Old MacDonald. Unfortunately my Giants lost to Marc's Denver Broncos, which was a bummer, but the weather was awesome all around (ok, the last 3 holes in the last round were wet but that's pretty good considering the time of year).
As we were wrapping up the golf on Thursday, my knees started to ache and I wasn't sure if that hole walking the equivalent of 36 miles over 5 rounds (4 playing, 1 just watching) was too smart the week leading up to the race. Oh well, that lowered the expectations even more.
Awhile back, my friend, Michael, a very experienced runner and triathlete offered to run the race with me. Then Coach Lesley offered the services of someone who wanted to pace someone running somewhere between an 8:30 min/mile pace and a 9:30 min/mile pace. Sweet. I was really happy with what we had done a couple of weeks earlier, so I told Lesley to share with Andria whatever the "secret sauce" was in our training run. That's all I knew.
Marc, ever the supportive husband, gets up before dawn to drive the 3 of us to the start, and we're psyched that it's not really raining and it's not that cold. Gun goes off and we're running. Mile 3 was kind of a long, slow slog up on to the freeway, but then it was mostly downhill and flat for the next 4 miles. The 8th mile was tough and while I bent in my determination, I didn't break thanks to Andria and Michael.
Andria was focused on my pace and Michael focused on my form (no boxing movements with my arms when I run) – what a team. Got over the tough hill and headed into mile 9 which was mostly flat, and then had a steady hill for mile 10. The 1st quarter of that hill was the worst and then it was fine. Michael was reminding me that we were on pace for sub 2 hours, but I wasn't ready to talk about that as I had bonked in the past.
Another bump before we crossed over the freeway at around the end of mile 12 was tough (another bending moment), but then I had another ½ mile to recover before the last stretch. I saw Marc again and I was just absolutely gassed. The last hill, while not that steep, was so tough at the end. Another Coach Lesley runner saw me (we never met but he saw my shirt!) and kept encouraging me, too!
I'm telling you – between Marty (my new friend), Andria and Michael, I think they did everything they could to get me to the stadium (finish line location) other than physically pushing me. I got into the stadium and the clock was on 1:59, all of a sudden the fatigue didn't matter. I ran as hard as I could to get in under 2 hours and while the official clock/gun time said 2:00:03 (3 seconds over 2 hours), I knew my chip time from when I crossed the start line was under 2 hours.
It wasn't until we finished mile 10 that I realized what Coach had told Andria to do – go for under 2 hours. And never in a million years did I think I would have achieved it in this race. But I did and I'm proud of what I've done. I'm thankful for Coach, Michael, Andria, Marty and of course, Marc for providing awesome support during the race.
When I started running, I was barely able to run 3 miles outside and ran about a 12 min/mile pace (I could have run faster but that would have involved a visit to the porcelain god… not a good outcome). My pace on Sunday was just over a 9 min/pace for 13+ miles. It takes time and patience (especially if you get injuries like I did). If I can do it, so can you! And some of you know that I am talking to you! J
So there you have it – 1 hour, 59 minutes and 27 seconds. I'm now the proud owner of a sub 2 hour ½ marathon time.