Lets start with the good news. I ran 1:42:20 which is my fastest time since 2006 for a half marathon. It was a beautiful morning with cool temps and dry air. A bit windy but I'll take those conditions anytime for this time of year.My hamstring felt pretty good and was not an issue in the race.
The bad news? The other leg came up with a mystery pain within the first half mile causing me to suffer significant pain and discomfort and kept me from having a shot at breaking 1:40 !
I met up with Lisa, Karla and Frank before the race. Went for an easy 1/2 mile warmup and felt great with no pain. I was feeling very confident that it would be a good day. There was not a large field with only 85 finishers in the half so I lined up very close to the front. I didn't want to go out to hard and just ease into a good rhythm and stuck to my plan. At first the pain was not too bad, just annoying and I was hoping it would go away after I got warmed up well into the race. I passed mile 1 in 7:29 and it felt easy so I was now thinking I could go for the sub 1:40.
Just before mile 3 the leg flared up petty bad and I was getting worried and had to back off a little but then it eased off to just painful again and I was dead on pace again with a slight cushion.. Miles 4 and 5 were exposed as we ran along beside the runway and directly into the head wind and a slight upgrade. I backed off the effort a little bit until just after the 5 mile mark when we turned out of the wind and into some trees. I only lost a little bit of time there and by mile 7 I was exactly dead even on 1:40 finishing pace and other than the pain I felt fantastic.
Then around mile 7.5 was when the leg really began to fail on me. Lots of pain and I had to shorten my stride and back off the pace. Over the next several miles I was a bit erratic with the pace as the pain would ebb and flow. I was really getting angry that I was feeling like I could run so fast but the leg just wouldn't let me and I helplessly watched the group of runners that were going for the same 1:40 disappear in front of me. I knew I was till on pace to run my fastest since 2006 so I just gritted my teeth and ran with a grimace and pushed as hard as the leg would let me.
Finally around mile 11 it eased off some and I was able to get the pace back to around 7:40-45 ish for the remainder of the race. Finished up with a good time but so frustrating to have another injury now. It was really strange to run a good time and still feel like without the pain I could have kept going at that pace easily for several more miles :(
Karla ran well and ended up with 1st womens grandmaster award and 4th woman overall. Lisa was happy with her effort after struggling with her training for a long time now and Frank had a very good day too. We had a great time hanging around after the race eating burgers and hot dogs for breakfast !
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