theSmudge.com

One-word summary: Wow.

Three-word summary: How’d that happen?!

One-sentence teaser: I did not expect a PR (personal record) at Sunday’s Shamrock’n Half Marathon in Sacramento, because I’d only been back from a serious injury for three months — but I shattered it and broke another barrier I hadn’t even considered.

Full recap (not guaranteed to be typo-free, because I’m in a hurry to get it posted before I lose momentum): I signed up for this race on a bit of a lark, because I was coming back from four months of stress fracture, and I wanted a goal. I’d looked at several half-marathons in March, and Katie talked me into running this one. I ran it last year to a 1:51:42 PR and liked it, so I signed up. Plus, I’d get to hang out with Katie.

Coming back from injury took a while, but I did two double-digit trail runs (10 and 13 miles) in January, which gave me softer trails and crazy hill workouts. My running buddy was working on some gait issues at the advice of the physical therapist, and it turned out that it was the same advice I’d been given previously. So we ran together and focused on gait (when we weren’t distracted by ridiculous conversations and almost running into poles), which definitely seemed to help me, too. Then I moved five weeks ago to an area where I run at least some hills nearly every day. I now have gym access, so I’m trying to go there a couple times a week to use the elliptical machine, stationary bicycle and weight machines.

In mid-February I ran a 14-miler on hills and sidewalks in mostly pouring rain. I figured the concrete would be a good test of my leg, and it held up. The following weekend I ran a 12-miler that was the fastest double-digit training run of my life (8:53 pace). I was floored. Last weekend a group of us ran 14 miles in San Francisco over the Golden Gate bridge (a post I’d planned to write already…), and the 10:21 average pace was perfect because it didn’t beat me up for today’s race.

Saturday morning I woke without an alarm at 6:30 after seven hours of sleep, a good thing. I ran a few miles, cleaned my house, got mad at iTunes, and finally headed to Katie’s sister-in-law’s house, which is much closer to the race. She had spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and a glass of great red wine waiting for me. Katie and I didn’t get to sleep until what was 11:30 p.m. because of Daylight Savings Time. I woke up at 12:30 for no good reason. I got back to sleep, then woke up to a nightmare at 3:30. Finally we got up at 4:30.

We had to get to the race early because traffic backs up on the freeway and parking is limited. I picked up my race packet and then we sat in the car for a while.
Eventually it was time to shed extra clothing and head to the start. We were in the first wave, though I was merely planning to break 2 hours, maybe hit 1:55. Katie, though, was hoping for 1:30 (though two of us were convinced she would have a 1:2x time), so we parted ways as she went toward the front. I got behind the 1:50 pace group leader, knowing they’d be going too fast for me.

The race began and I started my music. This was a first for me — in every race, including marathons, I have never listened to music. Until I moved, I very rarely listened to music in training, either. But I decided to try it, since I’d had a couple fast runs when Metallica came up on Pandora (internet radio, in case you don’t know the awesomeness of it). I’d put together a 2-hour play list of upbeat music, including a few Metallica songs around the times when I figured I would need a power boost.

Mile 1: 8:38.

Mile 2: 8:44. My legs took a little while to warm up. At first I thought this was going to be a rough race, but then things started clicking into place.

Mile 3: 8:24. I hit the 5k point at a bit over 26 minutes. My average pace was around 8:35 or 8:37 at this point. Last year’s PR average pace was 8:32 overall, so I knew it was actually in sight, though I’d had no intentions of reaching it at all.

Mile 4: 8:32. Took a gel.

Mile 5: 8:26.

Mile 6: 8:19. I reached the halfway point (6.56 miles) at 56 minutes. That meant I was on pace for a 1:52. That was only 18 seconds slower than my PR, so I decided to just go for it. If I blew up, it was just one race.

Mile 7: 8:13. Took a gel at mile 7.5. I was also experimenting by consuming more fuel than I usually do. I battle to ward off calf cramps, so since my stomach is fine, this was another new test.

Mile 8: 8:22.

Mile 9: 8:10.

Mile 10: 8:22. Took a caffeinated gel at mile 10.5, knowing it would kick in just in time to power me through the fatigue.

Mile 11: 8:24. I was still doing pretty well at the math, and I was watching the overall average pace on my watch. It was around 8:25 at this point, so I knew that things were going well. However, my watch was measuring about 0.1 miles longer than the mile markers, so I figured I didn’t have much of a lead on my PR.

Mile 12:8:08. Metallica song came on partway through this mile — perfect timing.

Mile 13: 7:38. I didn’t see this mile split at the time, so I’m amazed when I see it now. I was definitely getting worn out and my lungs were burning. But I knew I was going to beat my PR, and I had begun wondering if I would somehow break 1:50.

Last 0.1 (or 0.23 on my watch): 6:57 pace. I caught the 1:50 pace group leader at the very end, as we ran onto the baseball field where the race ends. He looked back, saw me giving it everything in my entire being, and said, “Come on, you’ve got this!” I felt my legs surge a bit faster at his words and he said, “You’re going to break 1:50, you can do it.”

I powered through the finish line and was truly exhausted. I don’t remember seeing anyone except the smiling lady who gave me my medal. My watch said 1:50:03, but I knew I hadn’t pressed the stop button right at the finish line. After wandering around deliriously and stopping to talk to a couple cops I knew, and going the wrong direction from the front gate, I reached Katie.

That girl had not only broken 1:30 — she’d run a 1:27:54 for a whopping average pace of 6:43. She was fourth female overall, and she won an award for second in our age division. She was 13 seconds away from third and first places, respectively. If that’s not badass, I don’t know what is. Oh, and she’d done it on two nights of about four hours of sleep each, running 16 miles yesterday, and running over 100 miles a week.

I waited impatiently to see the official race results, and finally saw them. I’d run a 1:49:59 (average pace of 8:24). One second had made all the difference of breaking that 1:50 barrier. I owe that pace leader for giving me that last bit of encouragement that I needed. Looking back, I probably wouldn’t have cut it so close if I hadn’t lost about 10 seconds for a train to pass — seriously, that happened — and if I hadn’t walked through two water stops so I’d actually consume the water rather than spilling it all over myself.

Needless to say, I’m ecstatic. I was 39th out of 588 women in the 30-34 age group (top 6.6%), and 578th out of 4,654 total finishers (top 12.4%). Also, I ran the first half in 56 minutes and the second half in 54 minutes, which means I negative split it — always a great way to finish a race.

The race was great, we crossed several bridges, with beautiful views, and the weather was perfect with a start temperature of 48 degrees and clouds the whole time.

The one really awful part, though, was trying to get out of the parking lot. We’d followed repeatedly emailed instructions to arrive early to avoid parking problems, and for that we were rewarded with being stuck at the back of the parking lot. The people who’d gotten there at the last minute were the first ones allowed out of the one single-lane exit. So Katie, the fourth female finisher of the entire race, was waiting AN HOUR in the parking lot before we called her sister-in-law to drive 20 minutes and get us. By the time she got there, we still wouldn’t have gotten out of the parking lot.

We finally made it back to Katie’s sister-in-law’s house, where she had glorious hot coffee ready. She made us waffles and served us fruit, and I think I was starting to see an angelic halo over her head.

As I type this 10 hours after the race ended, my legs feel fine. I’ll see how they are in the morning, but for now I think I can continue forward with my plan of increasing the mileage. That’s a massive relief, since I’ve been using running as a mental outlet to retain my sanity — though at the same time this solo running stuff makes me lonely.