This year my training has been mostly geared toward getting ready for my full marathon in December with some speed training early on to get prepared for Race for the Cure. I have not done a speed run in three weeks, and my long runs have been very lax. I just wanted to go into Soaring Wings knowing that it would be difficult (because goodness, it's 13 miles!) but also enjoying it as much as I could. That is, until about a week ago. I got it in my head that maybe I could try and PR again. Not only that, but MAYBE I could try for a sub-2hr time. I got in touch with my friend Angela who I look up to in the running world and asked for some advice on how to go into this race that was originally going to just be another training run with benefits. In the week leading up to it I cut back significantly on my marathon training and tried to mentally and physically prepare to race myself in my 5th Soaring Wings Half.
Scott and I got up nice and early Saturday morning and went on with our regular race morning routine. Everything was going smoothly and even though I had my normal race morning butterflies I was feeling pretty good. Two blocks from the freeway Scott realized he left his race bib on the table at home! OOPS!! I'm glad he remembered. I needed him to keep me going on this course. :) We arrive in Conway about 45 before start time, which allowed plenty of time to park, walk to bag check, do the port-a-potty thing, get to the start line, and find our pacer, with a few minutes to spare before the director of the ranch begins talking. We met up with Angela at the starting line. I wasn't sure if we would see each other before hand. It was nice to chat and encourage each other before we started.
The Star Spangled Banner was sung. There was a prayer. Then the waves started. Only 4 minutes after the clock started our wave began. I felt like we started fairly fast, but I tend to struggle through the first two miles of any run I do so I just focused on my breathing and focused on the 2 hour sign our pacer was holding. Like usual I settled into my groove by the time I hit 2 miles. Coincidentally this is also where my parents surprised us for the first time and jumped from behind a port-a-potty. :) We continued following Pacer Guy (I wish I knew his name!) into the fourth mile. Mom and Dad showed up again at the top of a very difficult hill. Their cheering was a much needed reassurance at that point. A little over 4 1/2 miles into the race I had to make a pit stop. Scott and I paused our RunKeeper clocks and restarted soon after. We tried to pick up the pace to catch back up, but it was difficult. We could see Pacer Guy in the distance and I had hope. However, to catch up would mean running at an even faster pace than initially needed to finish at 2 hours and at about 7 miles I told Scott that I didn't think I could push enough to catch up. We were both ok with that and settled in to our own comfortable pace. Within two miles of that we were both in a lot of pain. Running for this long is painful no matter what, but it's made worse when you don't train properly. For me, I had not trained on hills like I usually do. I don't even know what I was thinking. :) So we talked some more and decided for the next 5 or so miles we were going to just enjoy the course. If we wanted to walk, that was ok. We weren't going to beat ourselves up over it. It's amazing the difference it makes when you let it all go. Yes we were still breathing hard, and yes it still hurt, but know we weren't pushing for time anymore made it better. Mom and Dad showed up again at about 7 1/2 miles and then somewhere in mile 9 (great timing for a fist bump :-D ). Coming into mile 11 we had a steady downhill and one more Mom and Dad sighting. Both were a welcome relief as we went into what some would call the worst hill on the course. Mile 12 is a long steady up hill. Between 11 and 12 we caught up to Angela. We have decided that all three of us needed each other at that point. I truly think we met up at just the right time to get each other through the last mile and a half. And that's what we did. We talked each other through when we each, at some point, thought we wanted to quit. With just half a mile left I told Scott I needed to walk. Just half. He flat out said, "No you don't." and we kept going. With just 1/4 mile left Angela was trying to make a deal with a police officer on a bicycle to let her have his bike. He laughed and said she was too close and to keep going. One more turn. Only a tenth of a mile to go. I think we were all talking to ourselves but at the same time to each other. Don't quit. Do it for the kids. For their kids. For our kids. We. CAN. Do. This. I never count on it, but at every race, in the last stretch something fires up inside of me and I sprint to the end. Saturday as I was picking up speed I was shouting "Go!" to Scott and Angela over and over. I saw a guy in front of me and I was determined to pass him before getting to the finish line. I did. We did. In my head it looks very glamourous. All three of us- Scott, Angela, and I- crossed together with long strides and smiles on our faces. In reality, I'm pretty sure it's not at all like that. I like my mental picture better. (But I can't wait to see what the professionals got ;) ) I walked to a beautiful little girl who was holding out an almost as beautiful medal. I thanked her and hugged Angela and then found the oranges. Those oranges are the absolute yummiest thing EVER after running. :)
Scott and I met up with my parents for hugs and pictures before they had to head home. There are certain things that we always make sure to do. Post race pictures with our support team are a must. Seeing my parents (and James and Evie if they are there) are the absolute biggest highlight of my races. I never know where they will be, but knowing they will show up not only makes each mile seem a little faster, but also more motivating and more fun. I've mentioned before about the great comments we get after passing Mom and Dad. They are by far the loudest spectators out there. And I love it.
Official times were posted within a few hours of finishing the race. I knew had finished under 2 hours and 10 minutes, but beyond that, for the first time, I almost didn't care about my time. Almost. :) I generally will base anything on what Runkeeper says because that's how I base my training runs also. So for comparisons sake here's the break down.
Official Chip Time:
2:09:53/avg pace 9:55
RunKeeper Time:
2:08:23/avg pace 9:40
Overall I placed 494th! I don't know the actual number of participants, but I do know there was a cap at 2000 allowed to register. :)
Just to give you a visual, you can see where we started to struggle and also where the hardest hills were. This course is brutal when it comes to hills. There are a few major ones, but it's pretty much up and down through out the whole thing.
I assume that next year I will not be training for a full marathon and maybe I can really focus on training for a sub-2 at Soaring Wings. I never thought I'd say that. It goes along with the rest of my running journey though. I never thought I'd run. I never thought I'd run a race. I never thought I'd run a half or a full. When I decided I loved running crazy long distances, I never thought I'd go for speed... Such a crazy journey I've been on. :)
Next up: VERY long training runs all leading up to the St Jude Marathon in SIX WEEKS!!
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