What a weekend!
Goal: 1st place, 13.1 miles @ sub 1:18
Actual: 1st place, 13.1 miles @ 1:17:19
Results
This was a loooong weekend, but so worth it. Anthony and I headed to St.Louis Saturday afternoon, and after a 3.5+ hour drive, went straight to the expo to pick up my packet. We're too cheap to pay for parking ($10!) so I went in by myself to enjoy the numerous free samples and all sorts of running goodies. I made it fairly quick since Anthony was waiting in some random parking lot, and we headed to Forest Park for a quick shake-out run to loosen up after the long drive.
Sunday morning came very quickly, and we woke up way earlier than anyone should have to on the weekend. The race started at 7am, and it was a cool, brisk morning. I managed to get to the elite starting corral with a few minutes to spare, when they announced a 5 minute delay :( Five long minutes of freezing my butt off. I tried to tuck in behind some of the others in hope that they would block some of the wind.
When we finally took off, I could tell pretty quick that this was going to be a dual between me and the lady that took second. I actually recognized her as she ran Hospital Hill in June. We came through 2 miles together, and she was quickly dropped as we made our way through the water station. At this point, I realized that I would get my own bicyclist since I was the lead woman :)
Around 2-3 miles. . . headband is already off and gloves are getting ready to come off |
I tagged on (sort of) to a group of three guys who pulled me through the next 4 miles. They were all friendly and buddy-buddy towards each other, but once I tried to tuck in or *gasp* pull even, they'd surge and try to drop me. So my bicyclist and I stayed about 5 feet back (which they were content with) while I tried to hold on as long as I could. They must have started to actually race each other around mile 8 because all of a sudden they were a good 15 seconds ahead. My bicyclist had check points in which she called in splits to the finish line so they could announce to the crowd who was in the lead, pace, etc. Well, she had no phone service, so she stopped to text in my split. About quarter mile later, just past 10 miles, she caught back up and informed me that 2nd place wasn't even in site :)
The clock kept ticking, and my bicyclist kept me honest. When we got to the point where the marathoners split off and the half marathoners turned to head to the finish, my bicyclist congratulated me, told me to finish strong, and bid me farewell. I'm so glad she was there. Even if we didn't talk very much (I was winded) it made the run less lonely and easy to keep the pace honest.
My Garmin had been beeping earlier than the marked miles, so I was hoping the entire time that it would work itself out because according to the Garmin I was on PR pace. Unfortunately, it didn't work out (13.23 says Garmin). Even by looking at the clocks on the course, I knew it was going to have to run my last 4k in 18 minutes and some change to break 1:17. Well, it didn't happen, but I have no regrets. Hospital Hill was a huge (2 min) PR for me, and I was hoping it wasn't a fluke. So I'm quite relieved to have come within 4 seconds of my PR. I am now confident that if I can find the right race, one with more front runners (and not quite as hilly), I'd be able to run in the 1:16 or even under!
Chilly Morning |
After the awards |
Cheers with the Michelob Ultra sponsors. |
The after race concert |