If you're like me and only skim blogs for the good stuff, here's the scoop:
Monster Dash Half Marathon
Previous 1/2 Marathon PR - 1:43:25
Goal - Break 1:40
Results - Finished in 1:39:07, 15th of 402 in my age group (F25-29), 36th of 1565 women.
If you want the full race report, keep reading.
Saturday morning Pre-Race:
I got to Harriet Bandshell early thinking I would be able to snag a good parking place. Apparently a few thousand people had that same brilliant idea. By 7:15, the area was packed with runners. I found parking, headed down to the bandshell to do nothing, went to the bathroom for the first time, headed back to sit in my car and do nothing there. I waited until about 7:40 and then started my warm up. I ran into
Steve and stopped to chat with him for a few minutes, then stopped at the bathroom again (trip #2) and finished my warm up. It was cold out, but I decided I was overdressed and headed back to my car to shed a layer. I headed toward the half marathon start line, stopped at the bathroom again (trip #3) and contemplated how my body could seriously have to pee 3 times in less than an hour. I found my place at the start with the 1:40 group (7:38 pace), introduced myself to those around me and chatted with training buddy Chris for a few minutes. The race director announced we had 13 minutes until the gun. I noticed a line of port-o-potties right by the start line and decided I should probably go one more time. Thankfully the line was moving quickly and trip #4 to the bathroom only took a couple of minutes.
The race:
Mile 1 - Pacer Paul took off like a frickin' jack rabbit. Usually races are crowded enough that you can't start right at pace, but Pacer Paul made sure he was on pace instantly. Surprisingly, there were a number of people we passed in the first mile. I'll never understand how some people line up at the front of the pack and then start running WAY slower then everyone else behind them. Did these people not see the giant 8 foot flags along the start line indicating how the different paces should line up? Did they not see the numerous pacers holding their signs with the pace and finishing time they would run? What the hell? Oh well, we passed all those people and finished mile in 7:40 - right on pace, but I felt like I was running a lot faster than that.
Mile 2 - The 2nd mile felt awesome. Despite my 20 minute warm-up, I think I needed that 1st mile to get into my groove. Mile 2 felt great and we passed the 2nd mile marker in 7:26. Awesome.
Mile 3 - I needed water. My mouth was dry, but I felt awesome otherwise. Mile 3 split - 7:27.
Mile 4 - We finally got to the first water stop. I couldn't get to the right side of the road right away, so ended up going to the last volunteer in the row. He had 2 cups of water in his hands, but right as I was reaching out to him, 2 people in front of me grabbed those cups. Dammit!! The volunteer guy felt really bad, but I knew I would be OK without water for a few more miles.
Mile 5 - Hills, hills and more hills. Not big ones, but lots of rollers. I finally got water right before the 5 mile marker. I missed the 4 mile marker (I think it was at the top of a hill where there were lots of spectators and distractions.) Mile 4 and 5 split = 15:05, still a few seconds fast but I was still feeling great!
Mile 6 - We were starting to pass the slowest of the 10 mile runners. This mile was flat, but we lost a few seconds and finished the mile in 7:50.
Mile 7 - Yet another flat mile. I chatted with training buddy, Chris, for awhile. He was running his 1st half marathon and was doing great. As discussed in our training run, we agreed we would stick with the pace group until mile 9 and then assess whether or not we felt we could kick it in a little. Mile 7 split - 7:43.
Mile 8 - CROWDED!! The 10 mile runners were coming back on one side of the road while we were running out on the other side. There were cones running down the center of the road to seperate us. I couldn't find a good place to run. I stayed in the middle and weaved in and out of the cones. It sucked. There was just too much going on with cheering on everyone and checking out people's costumes. We were all distracted but our pace was actually pretty good - 7:32.
Mile 9 - We were a little slow on our overall time, so Pacer Paul tried to make up a few seconds. I felt like we were finally working a little. Unfortunately, just as we got to Chicago Ave, the police started yelling at us to stop to let the cross traffic through! WTF?!! Stop during a race?! Apparently the city buses needed to stick to their schedules. People were yelling at the cops to let our pace group through and the cops were yelling at us to stop and let the buses through. A couple guys ignored the cops and ran through the intersection. I followed. As long as I got across, I didn't really care what happened to the rest of the pace group (yeah, I'm stuck up like that). I guess everyone else followed suit because the pace group reunited very quickly after that. Mile 9 split - 7:50. I figured that was OK since we had that little hang up at the intersection and there was a pretty significant hill right before the mile marker.
Mile 10 - We needed to pick up the pace a few seconds this mile. The course was still VERY crowded with the slower 10 mile runners. We were constantly bobbing and weaving through other runners. I even had to jump up on the curb a few times to get around people. It was a mess. I felt like we had made up some time but this turned out to be our slowest mile yet - 8:06! Damn!!
Mile 11 - Pacer Paul was worried. We were off pace a little and with the crowded roads, it was going to be tough to make up time. I started to wonder how I was going to finish. My plan was to take off on my own after mile 9, but Pacer Paul seemed to be taking off with me. We were pushing the pace and I could feel it. Most of our pace group had fallen apart and a lot of people had fallen back a few seconds. There were 2 girls in our pace group that were dressed up like pigs. One little piggy fell off pace, but one little piggy could run! There was one pretty big hill on this mile and I was working hard to keep up with that piggy. My legs were hurting! We crossed the 11 mile mark in 7:00. Wow! I guess that explains why I was hurting!
Mile 12 - Paul knew he had made up time and could finish the race at our 7:38 pace, but I was still feeling great. He could tell and told me that if I was feeling it, I should take off. I did. The fast little piggy took off with me. A lady in a blue shirt and blue hat was right there with us too. I knew the 3 of us could hold onto our faster pace for the rest of the race, so we took off leaving the pace group behind. We finally caught and passed a guy dressed as He-Man. He was just ahead of our pace group for most of the race. Apparently, not even the Power of Grayskull was enough to last him an entire 13.1 miles. Without the pace group around me, I could feel the wind a lot more. My right quad was starting to scream, but I knew we were almost done. Mile 12 split - 7:21.
Mile 13 - Our little piggy fell back, leaving me and the blue girl to finish the race alone. We were running hard. The roads were still crowded with the slower 10 mile runners. I kept yelling "On your left!" to warn them that faster runners were coming up behind them. They were all very respectful and let us pass without incident. The blue girl finally started yelling "Slower runners, keep right!" I wasn't sure I had the authority to say that, but it seemed to work, so I started yelling it too. The 10 mile runners obediently moved right, leaving us with plenty of space to pass. Mile 13 split - 7:17.
Blue girl, me and some dude in a tie-dyed shirt pushed each other across the finish line and all came in right around 1:39.
My official time was 1:39:07, well under my goal of 1:40! I think with a not-so-crowded race course I could have run a little faster, but overall, I ran smart and that's still a PR by over 4 minutes. I can't complain about that!