I had hoped to run my next half in October '18 in Houston, but injury prevented that from happening. Instead I'd be running a Houston Half in January, one that I had run before. It's a big race, a fast course, and probably the most well organized race I've done. I was looking forward to it!
Because of the injury back in September, I only ran 29 miles into October. I managed to have good training months in November and December, but I was wary of a lot of speed work. Not exactly a high volume few months of training prior to my attempt, but it was all I had so I did my best. Honestly, I was questioning whether I had gotten into good enough shape. I not only wanted to run a new PR, I really wanted to break 1:50. That would require an 8:23 pace, and based on how my tempo runs had felt, I knew holding that pace for 13 miles was going to be tough for me. But I had to try!
If there's one thing I've learned in the last 18 months, is that I am stronger than my brain thinks I am, and I can often push myself pretty hard. I figured the worst thing that could happen was I'd slow down towards the end, but I needed to do my best to lock into a fast pace and hold on as long as I could.
My friend and teammate Drew was supposed to run the full marathon, but decided to downgrade to the half and didn't feel comfortable racing it as he felt he had not put in adequate training leading up to the race. He knew how badly I wanted to run a good race, and since 1:50 is a fairly easy pace for him, he offered to run with me. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I knew he'd yell at me to keep up with him and it would probably be what I needed in those last miles.
I arrived in Houston nice and early on Saturday and headed right for the expo to browse. I love the expo at this race. I was by myself, which is weird for me, but a few of my friends had bailed out of the race and the others were coming to Houston later in the day. While I was browsing the booths, there was an announcement that Meb Kefleghizi would be signing at the Aramco booth, so I hightailed it over there and figured I'd get in line and have him sign my bib. I have never met Meb but he's been a huge inspiration to me over the years and I credit his outlook on life and willingness to share his journey with us as part of the reason that I love to run. He has so much joy about it, and his win at Boston in 2014 is one of my favorite running highlights of all time.
Getting to chat with him for a few minutes was just AMAZING. He's so sweet and he thought it was pretty cool it was my birthday. I told him he inspired me to try to get to Boston and that my husband and I were going to both be running it. He signed my bib and wished me well on getting a PR on my birthday. Also, I can't believe I'm shorter than him....the dude is tiny!
A little bit of rest at the hotel and dinner with my friends, where we enjoyed some great food and wine and discussed race strategy, and then it was time to sleep. I was freaking nervous as hell.
Race morning was COLD. 32 degrees out with 10 mph winds made it feel like 26 degrees. I was bundled up okay, but it was just cold out. I don't know what the deal is with my long distance races being freezing, but my last three have started out below freezing. Better than it being warm, I suppose!
My friends and I lined up by the 8:30 pace people in the corral. Along with Drew, I was starting the race with Amit and Melody, who were both registered for the full. We all planned to run about the same pace, so running together until the split right before 8 miles seemed like a pretty good plan.
The start was so crowded. Even though we were in the first corral, we were pretty far back in it and there were so many people to get through. Instead of weaving, however, I just tried to be patient. Unfortunately because it's Houston and there are so many tall buildings, the GPS is not reliable for that first part of the race. We were right by the 3:35 marathon pacer, so I assumed we were probably running a decent pace. I wanted to be around 8:40-8:50. When my watch beeped at the mile 1 sign and said 9:11, I was slightly freaked out. It felt like a sub-9 mile....that can't be good.
I immediately sped up and got into a more difficult pace and my watch was registering that lap as around 8:30 average pace. Much better. We ended up running Mile 2 in 8:25. Back on track, because I had expected to be at about 17:30 after two miles. My plan was to increase my speed slowly in the first few miles and then lock into a pace just under 8:20 to hold for as long as possible, and then hopefully surge in the last 3 miles. I like to run negative splits in a longer race, and because there was no room for a real warm up before this race, I knew running a negative split would be best for me. I needed those first few miles to ease into a good pace.
BUT....that's not exactly how we did it. I sped up in Mile 3 a bit more than I thought I had and it clocked in at 8:16. Okay, well now the plan was to NOT SLOW DOWN. Hold as many miles at that pace or faster as I could.
The 5K split came up at 26:58, pretty much right where I wanted to be. That first mile wasn't going to totally mess me up after all. The first half wasn't particularly easy for me, but it was good enough to not completely freak me out. The 10K was in 52:42, still on target. I had run mile 6 too fast (at 8:06) so I eased off in mile 7 and ran 8:21.
One of the most humbling parts about this race was to witness the participation of athletes with disabilities. On two occasions we were passed by guided athletes. And by passed, I mean that they FLEW by us. One gentleman was an amputee. The other was blind and deaf...yes, blind AND deaf. Just imagine that for a moment. I remember thinking that if these guys refused to let their physical limitations hold them back, then I certainly could suck it up and perform at my very best.
Less than a 10K to go at this point. I was still running with Amit and Drew, but we hadn't seen Melody since those first couple miles. Amit kept looking back for her, but didn't see her. He made the decision before the split for the full and half runners to just stay with us and DQ his marathon race. He wasn't prepared as well as he had hoped for the distance and he was enjoying running with us. I think if he'd seen Melody he may have stuck with her, however. We come to find out after the race that she was a few seconds behind us the whole time!
So, if I were to be honest with myself, I was starting to freak out a little after 7 miles. I was at about 8:25 average pace, so well on my way to breaking 1:50 if I didn't implode. But I did NOT feel great. This pace was tough and the fitness I lost while injured was obvious to me. It was still the fastest 7 miles I had ever run, so I did take joy in that.
I thought about a lot of different things in order to tap into some mental toughness. The pace wasn't so hard that I couldn't keep running it, but I had to shut my doubts off so my body wouldn't give into them. I thought about the last miles of my BQ marathons, and how I remained strong despite running paces I had never run at that distance. I thought about how it really wasn't very many more miles that I needed to run, and that I was well over halfway done. I thought about the hot coffee at the finish and the hot shower I couldn't wait to take. Miles were still coming in at 8:15 range, like clockwork. As a matter of fact, my second and third 5K splits were identical, at 25:45.
Drew and Amit were doing a fantastic job of chatting with me, of building me up, of reminding me I was going to PR, and all the things great friends and pacers do to keep a runner on target. I honestly don't think I'd be running 8:15 miles if it weren't for them.
During miles 9 and 10, we had to turn into a cold headwind, but I was expecting it, and Drew reminded me that I was entering what would be the hardest part of the race and that I couldn't slow down. He just needed me to hold on for another 30 minutes and I'd blow my PR out of the water. All I could think was CRAP, another 30 minutes of this? Good grief, this was HARD.
I think miles 9-11 were probably the most difficult of this entire race. But then when you hit 11 miles, you turn east and head towards downtown and the finish. It goes by fast, and it's ONLY two more miles. 16-17 more minutes. I could do this for another 16 minutes. I could even slow down a little and still break 1:50, and I most definitely could PR. So I got a little excited once we passed the 11 mile marker.
I thought I was possibly slowing down but I focused solely on staying right next to Drew and letting him pull me into a fast enough pace. Mile 12 came in at 8:06, so somehow I had sped up. Drew shouted to me with a lot of excitement that I had sped up and that was awesome. Dude is a fantastic cheerleader. He missed his calling.
With only 1.1 miles to go, less than 2 kilometers, I really had nothing to lose but completely give into the pain cave and run my damn heart out. Only, what I hoped would be more like a 7:30-7:40 final mile wasn't really happening. I tried to speed up, but I didn't really feel like I was speeding up a whole lot. Because we were now entering the heart of downtown, I couldn't rely on the GPS pace, but rather just had to look at my watch at the mile marker. At the 20K marker, I was at 1:44:07. We had run the 4th 5K in 25:41...talk about consistent! I knew that if I was at 1:44 at the 20K point, then I would break 1:50. I could not slow down at all now. My watch beeped before the 13 mile marker (but we had added some distance on over the course of the race, close to a 10th of a mile, so I knew my miles were not exact to the course miles). It showed an 8:01. A part of me was slightly peeved that I was that close to a sub-8, but I also knew that it probably wasn't particularly accurate in downtown.
Regardless, it was only a small distance to run at this point. I ran as fast as I could and managed to squeak out a 6:59 final pace over the last 0.19 miles (according to my GPS). The last 1.1 kilometers of the race was officially in 7:49 pace.
I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:49:26. Our tangent running was pretty decent, with my Garmin showing a distance of 13.19. A half marathon in 1:49:26 is an 8:21 pace overall. I had beat my 6 year-old PR by 2:10!
I was beaten up, though! This race definitely tested my physical strength and mental strength. To feel like it was that difficult with 10K to go was a hard feeling to shake. When my quads started feeling sore at 15K, it made it even harder to keep up the pace. Thank God for the second wind when we made the turn at 11 miles. It wasn't easier to run, but my mind became sharper and more focused. The screaming crowds in the last kilometer made it a bit easier as well. Houston crowds are AWESOME.
I'm a stats geek, and I love to see how I place amongst my competitors. I am so pleased with my placing in Houston, considering it attracts a lot of serious talent.
Meeting my goal feels so fantastic, and it gives me an idea of where I'm at with regards to Boston Marathon training. I think my 1:49 shows me right at BQ shape provided I continue to run well and at high volume in training. I'd love to say that I'm easily in BQ shape, but I'm not there yet. This race also gives me a better idea of where my training paces should be right now. I got right back into it this week with a lot of easy paced miles. It was a bit of awkward running on Tuesday, my first run back, because of my fatigue but my legs felt much better after working out the lactic acid. I ended up with nearly 40 miles this week, all easy paced, but my 16 miler Sunday was the longest distance since September and I ran much of it under 9:45 pace while still keeping the effort low. That's a great sign a week after an all-out half marathon effort!
Boston is only 11 weeks away now, so my build will be starting soon. I'm feeling pretty great!
