Ouch Half Marathon - A PR with pit stops

This past Saturday I ran the Ouch Half Marathon, which is race #6 on the Live Uncommon Race Series and this race lived up to its name.

I was not in the right frame of mind to race this day and I had a fairly negative attitude going into the race. I knew physically I was ready but I think I am reaching my limit on racing this year, I have had a big schedule this summer and I'm ready to ease things back and just focus on the QC Marathon in just over a month.

To make matters worse I had 2 gels in pocket and somewhere between picking up my packet and walking the 50 feet to my car I managed to miss place one of my gels. Normally this would have concerned me and set me up for failure for the race, but since I was not optimistic about this race to begin with I really didn't care.

As the race started I set out at a conservative pace around 8:30-8:45, I chatted with a couple of friends from Live Uncommon and another gentleman I was running next too. Up ahead I could see my Nemesis (long story but this is a guy I have had sprint to the finish battles with over the last 2 years at some local races) and he was leading the pack. This must have triggered something in me and I was ready to race now, my pace start to pick up over the next couple of miles, I figured I had no chance to catch the leaders but I now wanted to finish with a good time. The first 3 miles went by pretty quick and slowly picked off runners in front of me till we reached Middle Park lagoon and I made my first bathroom pit stop. Now I had to start picking off all the runners I had just passed, but this gave me something to think about and small little goals to achieve. This is just one of the little mental games I play during races to keep me motivated.

Miles 4-8 were pretty uneventful and I passed some more people and by this point the pack was pretty spread out so not so many people ahead to catch and pass. Right before mile 7 we were running along river drive and the thought suddenly dawned on me that we were going to have to run up Belmont which I knew was a long fairly steep (by Iowa standards) hill. I suddenly lost a little of my motivation and my pace reflected it, I had been cruising along at 7:30 or under and slowed to 7:40ish. That was when I really started asking myself how much I was willing to hurt today and I didn't know if I was ready yet to give it my all. As we made our way up Belmont I was gaining on another guy and I suddenly decided I was ready to hurt just a little more and I made a push to pass him on the way up the hill. I love passing people going up hill, there is something mentally about being able to find another gear when most people start to slow down. Once I got to the top of the hill I was ready for my one and only gel, which by the way was a GU Chocolate Outrage, which is easily my favorite especially when they are warm after sitting in your picket for over an hour (gross I know, but delicious).

Miles 9-13 started off with me not having a clue where to go once we got to Middle Road, for the majority of the race the course was really well marked but here they could have used a sign, or one of the volunteers that for some reason were parked at drive ways along Belmont which seemed unnecessary. I had to slow and wait a few seconds for the people behind me to ask which way to go. Luckily Maddie Reynolds and another PV runner where just behind me and they knew the course. The run along Middle road was good, I had to stop again for a bathroom break which is unusual, I'm usually pretty reliable for a pit stop at 3-4 miles in but good after that, I did drink at every aid station grabbing Gatorade to compensate for the lack of a gel to start the race. At the turn from Middle Road to 53rd I could see my nemesis up ahead, he apparently had either gone out to fast or was just having a bad day. I felt bad for him (I bare no serious ill will towards him, we just have an unspoken rivalry, heck he may not even be aware of me for all I know) but now I had a target to set my sights. I passed him around mile 10 and I felt pretty strong at that point, especially since I knew the rest of the course would be flat. My pace dropped down for the last 2 miles and I was able to finish strong at just about 7:00 mile for the last mile.

Even though I wasn't mentally prepared for this race, physically I was ready and that carried me through. I was also blessed with gorgeous weather to start the day and that always makes it easier to finish strong. I set a new Half Marathon PR @ 1:40:17 and finished 2nd in my age division. I'm very encouraged with this finish, and have a lot of confidence in my running going into the QC Marathon that I can make my goal even though I'm not really ready to admit what my goal was. Originally I was thinking 3:45 which would be a 9 minute improvement over last year but after the Ouch race my outside stretch goal doesn't seem like to much of a stretch now. I'm going to wait to put a number down until I get a couple more long runs in, but I'm feeling very confident and excited to run the marathon again.

Thanks for reading...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.