Four months of training definitely paid off for this race!

The theme was #PRorBust for this race and I definitely achieved that goal.  But, more than a few times during these past few months before the race I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to race.

I started training in July because I had taken the month of June almost entirely off from running.  July was hot and humid and so was August.  When September rolled around and we were driving up to Valpo for the Popcorn Panic I remember saying to Jerrod that I wasn’t sure I’d run the Monumental Half because I didn’t think I’d be ready and didn’t think I would be in the right shape to run it in time.  After finishing the Popcorn Panic strong, I changed my tune and started weekly training runs with a friend of mine to help keep each other on track.  I got serious about my training schedule and really dug in to training this time.

I had a really great long run three weeks ago that gave me a lot of confidence going into this weekend.  Two weeks ago I had a bad long run, which I was hoping meant I got that out of my system.  Last weekend I did a hard 6 miles, which was supposed to be an easy long run taper, but it felt a little rough regardless.  So, this week I took most of the week off and just did a few miles on Wednesday on a treadmill.

By Thursday this week I was chomping at the bit to race on Saturday.  I felt ready and excited and started to put my goals and race day plan together.

Based on my training plan, here was my race plan:

Miles 1-3: Run the first 3 miles, walk a minute, have some Gatorade, start back up.

Miles 4-6: Run the next 3 miles, walk a minute, have some energy chews, start back up.

Miles 7-10 and 11-13.1: Repeat pattern for the rest of the race.

I wanted to finish the race in 2:45:00, which was a bit of a stretch for me, but way better than my May 1/2 time of 3:08:27.  That meant basically shaving 2 minutes/mile off the last half time and was even :15 seconds faster/mile than I had been training at – even on my best days.  BUT, I wanted to aim high and see what happened.  I didn’ t put it in writing in public in advance because I was afraid of failing and too much pressure, but that was the goal time.  I expected to fall just short of it and end at a 12:45 pace, like my good training runs.

I woke up on Friday, the day before the race, and I knew something was wrong.  I didn’t feel well,  I didn’t feel like myself and I debated between going to the doctor or ignoring the symptoms and finally ended up at the doctor on Friday night.  And, it turns out, diagnosed with a bit of an infection.  The NP I saw said I could chance it and wait until after the race to take first course of antibiotics, but risk feeling bad during the race, or start the first course of antibiotics on Friday night as I was leaving her office, but risk running the race on the antibiotics which I didn’t know how they would impact my system during the race.

There’s a cardinal rule of running… Don’t try anything new on race day.   Welp, that doesn’t really help me here because either the meds, or the infection, was going to be new… so I opted to roll the dice with the medication and hope for the best.

So I was terrified on Friday night that after all this training, after feeling so ready for this race, that it wouldn’t happen.

Thankfully, I woke up on Saturday and felt much better than I had on Friday night.  It was looking like taking the medicine on Friday night was the right to do.

I had planned and laid out almost everything the night before so I quickly got ready to go and Jerrod bundled up because he was going to be biking along the course to see me at several points.  We were running just a few minutes behind when we were driving downtown and I realized, to my horror, that I had forgotten my bib.  Whoops.   I pulled a U-turn on College and ran back in the house to grab the bib.   Now, I was officially running late.

Luckily, there was no traffic and I got downtown just in time to walk over with about 10 minutes to spare before gun time.  We lined up and I was feeling pretty good about how the race was going to go.

Race Recap

Miles 1-3: I started out at what I wanted to be a solid start pace, 12:30.  I was feeling like it was a bit fast, but I figured my watch was correct and I would just have to make it work.  About mile 2 I realized I had forgotten to turn the GPS feature on my watch on and it was WAY off.  By about 30 seconds, if not more.  So, I figured I would just do the best I could without dropping below an okay pace according to the watch and then I would have some padding built in to the end of the race.  Jerrod was going to be waiting to see me about mile 3, and I was internally debating if I would walk after mile 3, like I did on some training runs, or mile 4, but wanted to keep running until I saw Jerrod, so I decided to go until mile 4.

Miles 4-6: I started to feel good as I started this amount and decided to keep running, no break.  The only non-running steps I took through the first 6 miles were the few I took to swallow a sip of water and chew an energy bite at about mile 6.  I saw Jerrod just after mile 5 and I was feeling great and wanted to keep running as long as I could.   I set my next goal to keep running until at least mile 7, when I planned to take an aspirin and the half split off from the full marathon.

Miles 7-10: I popped an aspirin at mile 7’s water stop and decided to keep running, no walk break.  I was still hanging in there and didn’t want to give in.  I just wanted to keep running, at least though nine miles, which was the longest I had previously run continuously.  I wasn’t going to see Jerrod until mile 11.5, so I figured if I was going to walk I could do it around mile 9 or 10.  My pace was slowing by about 10-15 seconds/mile and I was getting tired.  I grabbed my energy bites at mile 9 to eat a few more and as I chewed the first two, I decided to keep running.  I was going to try and go the distance.  At about mile marker 9.7, just as we turned on to Meridian Street I got the best surprise yet – a friend had a “Go Diana!” sign and was out braving the elements to cheer me on!  I nearly ran past her without noticing and when I did it gave me such a burst of energy to get through the next few hard miles!

Miles 11-13: As I approached mile 11, it started to rain/sleet.  I was determined, though, to just keep going and at this point I began to really think it would be possible to run the entire race.  I was tiring and it hurt, a lot, but I just kept reminding myself that this is what I’ve been training for.  I could destroy my muscles and body today, but this was no training run, I was going to leave everything I had out on the course.  I finished my energy chews as I approached 16th and Meridian, where I knew Jerrod was going to be waiting again (this time in the sleet… what a trooper!) and kissed him as I ran by.  The last few miles were going to be hard and tough, but I was going to make it happen.  My friend Jess was along the course again cheering and it was an awesome burst of energy as I high-fived her and kept on going.   I wanted to walk, my body wanted to give out on me, but I would not give in.  I was going to run this thing to the finish.

At the mile 12 I checked my watch and saw the goal time was in reach.  I just needed to keep running.   That last two miles got progressively harder to the point that I may have blacked out a bit because I can’t remember much more that just putting one painful foot in front of the other.   DO. NOT. STOP. RUNNING. was the only thing going through my head.  I had made it this far, there was NO WAY I was going to walk now.  Blisters, muscles spasms and pain are a given.  The last mile or two aren’t about your physical strength or training plan… it’s only about mental toughness, and this was a battle I was going to win.

The last half mile seemed like 5 miles.  I pushed and pushed and wondered if I was going to drop dead before I reached the goal.  DO. NOT. STOP. RUNNING. was all I had going through my head.  I told Jerrod later, after the race, that I really, REALLY, had wanted to walk during the last mile.  He said exactly what I had going through my head during that stretch… “If you had finished and told me you ran the entire race only to walk during the last mile, I would have been pissed.  And you would have been, too.”  [That’s the support I love ;-)]

But, I did not walk and I did finish the race.  And then my body just kind of gave up as I finally let it rest.  I paid for my leaving everything on the course for the next 5 or so hours, but it was well worth it thanks to the awesome accomplishments I achieved with this half.

What I achieved:

          – Longest consecutive running in personal history.

          – Ran the entire half marathon.

          – Bested my first 1/2 marathon time by 25 minutes, 1 second.

          – Bested my goal by 94 seconds.

This will go down as my best race to date and it’s in large part to all the awesome people who encouraged me in training and on race day.  All this excitement definitely gets me excited for Half #3… Mini Marathon 2013.

November Race
13.1 Miles
12:28 pace
2:43:26 total time

What’s next?

My next race will be the Santa Hustle 5k which would be another fun run to finish out the year. Jerrod and I are doing this one together and I love the energy and atmosphere at this run race, where everyone dresses as Santa.

I’m also considering joining the #RWSTREAK plan.  This is an initiative by Runner’s World magazine where everyone who commits promises to run at least one mile per day every day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.