Steph Runs For Wine: August 2023

FINALLY.....I actually ran another race. 2022 had a whopping ZERO races for me. I had foot surgery in March and didn't really have a desire to race again until recently. Foot surgery and my lack of effort made me slower....resulting in lack of motivation....and I could go on and on with excuses.

BUT I FINALLY RACED AGAIN....and that's really all that matters.

First things first....I hardly trained, with a couple 12 milers thrown in and 20-25 miles per week total. Did I mention a lack of motivation? I have no excuses other than I just hardly trained. Not the usual Steph Hahn attitude, but alas, it is what it is. Kind of a lot going on this past year. Training wasn't a priority. Being uncomfortable wasn't a priority.

(Side note: I don't want this particular version of Steph Hahn to hang around much longer).

I went into this "training" with one goal....just run a damn race. I picked one in North Bend, WA, since we have a place in Seattle and I knew I'd be there a lot, and it's a beautiful area, and Greg got his BQ there. Lots of great reasons! It also helped that it's a downhill of 1100 ft, so the pressure was off a bit. Even with mediocre training, maybe gravity would help me not be embarrassed by my pace. Secretly, I really did want to break two hours. Logically, I knew even that, with how little I was actually running, would be a long shot. I'd have to really want it, and to feel really good. My personal best is 1:47.....kinda laughable at this point in my life, but still something I aspire to again in the future.

Checking out the finish the day before the race

The morning of the race was pretty uneventful. It was EARLY AS HELL. We had to leave downtown Seattle at 4:15 to get to the drop off point at 5:00, to walk uphill for at least a mile to the start (and it was quite a hill, over 300 feet of climbing). I'm glad I wanted to park so early, because I beat the port-o-potty lines and was able to start the race on time, unlike dozens of unlucky people still needing to pee.

The weather was incredible, mid-50s and overcast. For a half marathon, I'm perfectly happy with that weather (for a marathon, however, I want to be freezing my ass off). The course is on a dirt trail in the Snoqualmie area on the Iron Horse Trail, which has a very gradual downward slope, so subtle you almost can't tell. But it does help your pace and your heartrate.

I was making all sorts of bargains with myself. I wanted to start off not fast AT ALL, just ease into a faster-than-easy-run pace and hold that for at least 30 minutes just to see how I tolerated it. After the first couple miles coming in around 9:40-9:45, I determined I really liked that pace. I really liked the trail. And I absolutely LOVED the scenery. I was glad I elected to forgo headphones, because listening to nature (waterfalls!) beat music hands down. I highly recommend it.

I was really enjoying myself. I honestly didn't even care if my finish time started with a 2. I just wanted to have fun, enjoy the beauty of my surroundings, and express gratitude that I was racing again, feeling really good, was healthy, my husband and in-laws were waiting for me at mile 8, and not everyone gets to do this shit. If I felt like speeding up eventually, I would, but a 9:30-ish pace half marathon was also something to celebrate for sure.

I spent a lot of my time watching my footing. Having tripped on a run back in 2020 and decimating my rotator cuff and embarking on the worst year of my life rehabbing it, I was nervous as hell I would trip on a rock. But eventually I did chill out (with one eye on those damn rocks just to be safe). No tripping happened!

I paid attention to when my watch was beeping at the miles in relation to where the mile markers were placed and for the most part I was within 10-15 seconds at each mile, although mile 7's marker seemed to be way off. I assumed my GPS was probably pretty accurate. I hit 6 miles, according to my watch, at 57:54 (9:39 avg pace). Would be pretty hard to break two hours without significantly speeding up, and I really didn't want to. I had a fear of feeling like utter garbage if I turned on my speed, and crashing and burning in agony at the end, and I very very much wanted to cross the finish line feeling happy and excited.

But then mile 7 was in 9:11 and I didn't realize I sped up much. Granted, it wasn't a lot faster, but it felt pretty effortless and in line with the previous miles, so maybe that was the boost I needed to just push a little bit harder.

The mile 7 mile marker came way earlier than I expected, but I think that was a race crew mistake, because 8 was more in line with my GPS. It was also mile 8 where I found the family! Cedar Falls has a trailhead and is a perfect spectator spot. Five years ago I saw Greg here during his marathon. Seeing them certainly gave me a big boost and I kept my pace a little quicker than expected. I yelled to Greg to expect me to finish in 2:05.

I looked dumb in all the pics from the front so here's my backside at Mile 8

I continued to speed up and at this point decided that 2:05 was too slow and I could cut it down to 2:03 or so and that would be really respectable, plus I felt great! (Have I mentioned that already?)

Mile 8 was 9:04, mile 9 was 9:06 and it still didn't feel particularly hard. But I could feel the fatigue in my legs, partly due to low miles in training, partly due to the downhill. With only four more miles to go, I wanted to speed up a little bit more, ease back if I needed to, but never go below a 9:15.

Mile 10 was 8:51 and that excited the shit out of me. I was remembering what it was like to be fast(er). And I wanted that again.

Mile 11 was 9:05 and according to my watch, with 2.1 miles to go I was at 1:43:13. Wasn't going to break 2 hours without running the rest in 8 minute flat pace (big fat NOPE), but it was going to be more like a 2:01 if I could speed up just a little bit more.

I hit the 12 mile marker at just under 1:52 and at this point I'm a little wistful I didn't speed up more just a bit earlier. But again, if the mile markers were accurate (and I thought they were pretty close since they almost totally coincided with my watch), I'd be at 2:01.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the finish line flags WAY earlier than expected, when I thought I still had about a third of a mile left to run. I was running about 8:20 pace at this point and just did my best to run hard past all the flags (state flags for all the participants, yet I didn't see Texas...hmmmm....) and across the finish line.

I FELT FREAKING AMAZING AND STRONG AND SO DAMN HAPPY CROSSING THAT FINISH LINE.

I looked at my watch after I stopped it.

2:00:12

12.99 miles

So the mile markers weren't totally accurate after all....and my GPS didn't quite keep up.

(And yes, the course was accurate and certified at 13.1 miles, it started and finished in the exact right spots, so there were NO mistakes on distance). If I had run just 1 second per mile faster, I would've broken 2 hours!

I honestly didn't expect that I could run that well AND still feel as good as I did. I didn't race all out, I didn't kill myself to get to the finish line as fast as I could, I instead ran comfortably hard, kept my heartrate from redlining (it was pretty much zone 3 majority of the race), and I finally remembered that I'm a damn good runner when I put in the time and effort and volume a fast race requires. I got my feet wet again, got my runner's high, and the itch to race again finally came back in full force.

And I barely broke a sweat doing it (THANK YOU PHENOMENAL PACIFIC NORTHWEST WEATHER).

Having Greg, Ed, and Linda at the finish line was the icing on the cake. I love my freaking family.

I took the same selfie from when Greg raced!

My husband is hot

I'll be running this course again next June as I plan to sign up for Light at the End of the Tunnel (so will Greg but he just doesn't realize it yet).

But first? My 18th marathon on February 4, 2024, to celebrate turning 50, with Greg waiting for me at the finish after he races the half marathon that day.

I hate saying I'm blessed, but I am damn blessed.

AND NOW FOR SOME BONUS CONTENT....