NYC Marathon

Short version: it came, it was cold, it was windy and I accomplished my goals: sub 3:50, BQ for 2016 and qualify for a guaranteed entry for NY 2015.  

Overall stats:    Finish Time 3:49:42  9206th overall, 1894th woman, and 113th in F50-54 AG

Splits:      5K      27:12     25K  2:14:27
               10K     53:50     30K  2:41:27
               15K  1:20:34     35K  3:08:43
               20K  1:47:20     40K  3:36:42
              Half   1:53:09   Finish 3:49:42

Not too bad a job of holding it together until the very last 2K where I realized that I had given it everything I had and I just couldn't fight the wind anymore.  I also knew I was under the 3:50 (even though secretly I hope for 3:48) which is a PR for my 50s.  To finish that high in my AG in a big race is rewarding even if the field isn't "fast" like Boston.  I still accomplished more than I could have asked for overall.

Long version:  If you have been following my blog, you will know that training went pretty well and I was in much better shape than I had been in even before Boston.  That is what helps training over the summer not the winter (even with the warmer weather) and adding in races to get myself into the right mindset. I've run lots of marathons where my body was ready but my mind was not and it was evidenced in my overall results especially where I doubted myself and lost confidence.   I had regained my confidence before Boston and the last few months only helped.  I ran some of the fastest half marathon times that I had run in a couple of years as well which helped to boost it as well.  

My last week of training went fairly well.  During the last track session on Tuesday, I stressed a little as our splits seemed slower than they were the last few sessions, and I had to keep reminding myself that we were running mostly in lane 3 and had to avoid the band and the tuba players many times. Thursdays final tempo run was strong and effortless, so I knew that the training was there and I just had to trust it.  Weather reports were already showing colder temps and wind and well, that never changed.

Friday morning I met Chris at the airport to find that our flight to Newark had mechanical delays and we were not leaving at 11 am as we had hoped, but closer to 1 pm.  We finally got off the ground around 1:30 pm and made it to the city and our hotel by 5 pm.  We had hoped to go to the Expo that afternoon, but it was too late by then and we needed dinner, to meet Mary Pat and to head to the show, Matilda. Chris and I had a wonderful sushi dinner (and even two glasses of wine) and then we met up with MP who had traveled up from Philly on the train and went to the show.  Matilda was fun and it was a great diversion especially with the craziness of Halloween going on outside in Times Square. We saw lots of crazy costumes and even families with kids dressed up at that hour. We turned in early as MP had to travel to Buffalo and back for a family birthday party (she had to defer and wasn't running) and get up early. 

Saturday began with Chris and I heading to the Expo to do some retail damage and after getting our numbers, we did just that.  Wandering around and buying NYC marathon stuff along with some capri tights (because we thought we might want to wear them), compression socks, and some other fun stuff.  We then headed back to the hotel to relax and then off to dinner to meet up with my friends David and Kathy (former V-teamers and good running friends who live in Westchester) and Jennifer and Dennis who are 2nd Solers living now in Hartford, CT.

Sunday morning came early even with the time change and we woke to find the rain gone (thankfully), but the cold temps and the wind to have arrived.  We did decide on shorts/skirts and short sleeves with arm warmers under our many layers of throw away clothing and headed to the bus.  It was a quick walk and quick ride (no motor coach with a bathroom for me Steven, you missed out on a true fun time) and then we were over the bridge and at the Ft. Wardsworth staging area and "Green" village in Staten Island.  It was extremely cold and windy in the village area and we tried to hide in a plastic clothing collection bin that had flipped over in the wind, but alas we were soon evicted.

Chris and I staying warm

The village was well stocked with coffee, bagels, Gatorade and Gatorade products, bananas and port-o-potties.  So well stocked with the latter that the wait was never more than 2-3 min to use the loo which was a wonderful change over most big races that I have run.  Chris and I both remarked that Boston might take a page or two out of NYC's staging area book.  After what did seem that long a time (of sitting and shivering and making new friends), we were off to the Wave 1 corrals and the race was about to get real.  

Chris and I separated then as we had already made the pack a long time ago to run our own races.  We went to our respective corrals and after using the loo once again, it seems like the corral finally moved and we were headed to our start area on the lower span of the bridge.  Not sure what the real speed of the wind was on that lower section, but it was almost hysterical how difficult it was to actually cross the bridge.  Due to the gusts, there were no mile markers or clocks on the bridge, but it wouldn't have made a difference any way as everyone was pretty much blown into clumps in the center.  I had put that crazy pink and orange Dunkin Donuts hat over my cap and put sunglasses on to keep things from blowing into my face and contacts and was sure glad that I did.  I had also kept my tyvek throwaway jacket on for the bridge as well.  It was nonsensical running in that wind and if my Garmin was right that first mile was like 10:50 and of course the second mile coming down the bridge was timed as 8:12.  

The next few segments went by quickly.  There were many gusts but you were able to keep it together if you just didn't let it get to you.  The gusts were so strong in many cases that you were literally kicking yourself! With the addition of the 4th Wave, the course was not as crowded with runners as I remembered from 2011, and I never even noticed the addition of the merged runners from the blue wave.  It got a bit more crowded when the orange wave joined us, but nothing like I remember.  Unfortunately, it was in this mess of runners that I missed Tim's daughter, Lizzy, and her sign.  The next thing I remember was that we were on the 59th St Bridge (Queensboro) and fighting the wind going up and over to 1st Ave.  My Garmin froze and went haywire a this point so I was pretty much watchless when it came to pace.  I did have on my other watch (I always wear two ever since I became a pacer) and it had overall time, so I kind of knew where I was.  I had really been running mostly by feel anyway with the wind as I figured my paces were all over the place.  (As it turns out my 5K splits were actually pretty darn consistent).  I knew there were times on 1st Ave where I again was moving too fast, but there were others where I was moving too slow.  I was just hoping to get to David & Kathy and Lori & John in the Bronx as they were after mile 20 hoping for the promised tailwind.

When I go to the Bronx (and who put a hill on the Willis Ave bridge?), I was still feeling really good.  I grabbed a pretzel from David, but I didn't really stop as I didn't want to lose my momentum.  I kept rolling even along those hills on 5th Avenue and into the park and I was still passing a lot of people.  It was right around the 40K mark that I knew I had the race in the bag, and I was starting to slow and kind of look around and take it all in.  No we had never gotten that tailwind, but I knew I had fought my way through the toughest winds and I was going to finish the NYC marathon once again.  I know I probably could have run harder through this last 2K, but I also just let myself go at that point and dropped out of "race" mode as all that hard work was paying off and I relaxed. I made a bit of a mistake as I almost let the 3:50 slide by but when I realized that, I refocused to the end passing a bunch of runners as we approached the line.

Homeless me somewhere in the race

Thanks goes out to Coach Emily for believing in me, Coach Tim for leading us through those tough track workouts (in the rain) and the tempo runs that seemed almost impossible but were accomplished, our Group 3 Sole Train runners including Cathy, Liz, Anne, Denine, Diane, Elizabeth, Jen, Joe, Glen and others, to Chris and Mary Pat for a super fun weekend and one that we might just have to repeat next year since we are all in (Chris made her BQ and NYC times as well), and to my family for putting up with all this running again.

It's Almost Sunday

Yes, taper is indeed a funny thing and as I was wallowing in the fact that I will never make it through 26.2 miles, I was reminded that I felt exactly the same way back in April the week before Boston.  And well, that turned out just fine.   This past week was a tough one though as my legs felt out of sync.  It started with the weather as it was anything but pleasant for the first couple of days. Our little group ended up running a very soggy 5 miles rather than speedwork on Tuesday night since all the local high school tracks seemed occupied with soccer and other sports tournaments.  I think every fall high school sport except football finished this past week (or at least the tournaments to states began), so there was no room on the track for us.  Of course, it would have been a very soggy, wet mess anyway as the rain was pretty torrential.  It was probably good in that I had run sort of hard at Columbus and even with Monday off, another easy day was good for the body (but maybe not so for the sole during taper).  

Due to the crazy night on Tuesday, I postponed the speedwork until Wednesday when I went up to the track during the day.  It was still blustery when I got there, but the sun was starting to creep out from behind the clouds.  The temporary bleachers were still up and occupying lanes 1 and 2, so I had to run slightly warped ovals, but I managed to do the workout (1 x 2K, 1 x 1mile, 1 x 1K), and it felt ok.  I ended up running 5 total miles in roughly 40 min with warm up and cool down on the track, and I reminisced in the fact that 5 miles at 8 min pace used to be a training run.  So much for aging - at least I can still run miles under 7 min on the track again (although these were at 7:40, 7:10, and 6:55 min pace).

Thursday night turned out to be a beautiful one (even if we couldn't see the partial solar eclipse - you're not supposed to look at them anyway, right?), and the few of us left in our little group (Cathy, Liz and I) ran our final tempo run (7 miles total with 5 @ 8 min pace).  Not quite as fast as last week's run, but still a great effort nonetheless.  I felt a bit tired probably from Wednesday's speedwork and the fact that I had just come from a workout with Jake.  It is probably due to taper as well.

Friday brought another rest day, and Saturday brought our last longish run.  We (Cathy, Liz, Kevin, Denine and myself) ended up running 12 miles in what felt like an extremely sluggish 9:18 pace.  We had fun on the run and actually ran our fastest mile in mile 12 as we did an "Indian run" to the finish.  This did help to open up the legs and the stride just a bit.  Now I know we were supposed to go easy and slow-ish, but it felt tough from step one.  I'm certainly hoping that this is just taper at its best, and I have to remind myself to once again "trust the training" as I really did all the prescribed miles and my speedwork is back up on par with where it was the last time I ran the NYC marathon in 2011.  I guess the good of the week was that Sunday's 6 miles felt real easy.  It certainly wasn't fast, but the last couple of miles were faster than those on Saturday and they felt pretty effortless.  So I good sign, I hope.  

So in less than a week, it will be time for me to get that "Invincible On" and run NYC once again.  I would be lying if I didn't say I'd love to go under 3:50 and even close to the 3:46 I ran back in 2011.  However, I'd be super happy with 3:55 as long as I can get myself back to Boston in 2016 for Shannon's last year at BU.  Looking forward to a couple of great days in the city with Chris and Mary Pat.  And just looking forward to being in New York City.  NYC Marathon, here I come.

Columbus Half Marathon

Hmm, I can see that I have a been a bit negligent about keeping this blog up to date.  Yes, I have been running and those runs have included a 20 miler over the hills at Hinckley (OH), a 9 mile pace run, two successful track sessions and two solid tempo runs.  I've been busy with work stuff too, but I've been trying to keep up with the weights and core work as well although I've missed a couple of those early morning sessions - one because I was just exhausted and knew that sleep was the best option, and one because I torqued my lower back a little bit (I woke up with this tight lower back on Sunday before my race and although it didn't really bother me, it was even tighter afterwards and after the drive home).  I get this tightness every once in a while when I ramp up the miles and I always figure that it is due to both stress on my body and the need to go into taper.  Now as for taper itself, I am there and so far it is ok except that I'm already obsessing about the weather and the fact that marathon pace felt so difficult this past weekend.  My mileage for the last two weeks  was as follows:

Week of 10/6-10/12

Mon - Core class, no running
Tues - 7 total speedwork done as 3K, 2K, 1 mile, 1K (6:50-7:15 pace); trainer
Wed - 5 easy recovery miles, core class
Thurs - 9 miles with 7 done as harder effort (8 min ave pace)
Fri - Day off
Sat - 20 hilly miles
Sun - 9 recovery miles - started slow on Bridle Trail then 6 miles at closer to MP (without trying)  36F!

WTD:  50 miles

Week of 10/13-10/19

Mon -Day off running, Core class
Tues - 7.75 miles done with 2 x 2K, 2 x 1 mile, 1k; Trainer
Wed - 4.5 easy miles after core class.  Tired
Thurs - 7 miles with 5 @ Tempo pace; Trainer
Fri - Day off
Sat - 2.5 easy miles in the wind and rain.  Drive to Columbus
Sun - Columbus Half Marathon - 15 total.  Race done as 9 miles slower and then 5 faster.  

WTD: 39 miles

Back to this weekend, I had the pleasure of taking in the fine city of Columbus, OH and it helped that I had a friend who knew the city as a tour guide.  I drove down with a friend from the Cleveland running group and being the young, fast runner that he is, he knew some fun stops to visit including a wonderful coffee shop in the Grandview area and a vegan bakery with great cookies for the way home.  After arriving in Columbus on Saturday, we took in the Expo and some of the sites around the downtown area including the Nationwide Arena so that I could send my hockey loving daughter some Blue Jacket memories without having visited yet.

We then walked around the near North area, had some wonderful Jeni's ice cream and made sure to pay homage to Teem since he was running Grand Rapids the next morning.

After a fun dinner with Karyn, Anne, Brittany, Cheryl, and John, it was off to bed for the next morning.  Both Karyn and Anne were running the marathon.  For Anne it was her first real marathon run and for Karyn, it was her 9th, and we knew that both were nervous and really ready.  The next morning we got up early and met in the lobby to walk the sort 1/2 mile to the start.  When I awoke; however, my lower back was killing me which was not very pleasant.  I try to never rely on vitamin I (ibuprofen), but I had to take some to loosen things up.  I knew once I stretched as best as I could I would be ok since it didn't hurt when I walked.  I figured it would be ok, so off to the lobby I went to meet the others.

The next thing I knew, we were in the corrals lining up.  The weather was perfect at around 41F with no real wind and after the fireworks and National Anthem, we were off.  My plan was to run 9-10 miles as close to marathon pace as I could.  Now I'm not real sure what that marathon pace is supposed to be, but I figured around 8:30.  I knew in a race environment, I'd be a bit fast and of course I was.  I even made a it stop in the 4th mile since, well, I wasn't racing so I could.  My legs never really felt quite right and I seemed to be tired from the start although the mile splits don't really show this, and in fact, I was still running the miles too fast.  The course was pretty with some nice real estate to see, pretty parks, and lots of spectators, but it was also not as flat as I was led to believe. Now don't get me wrong, it isn't hilly, but it isn't Chicago flat either.  I did know that the last two miles of the half marathon course were an uphill on North High Street and then a downhill to the finish, so I was prepared for that, but I didn't expect some of the other inclines like the gradual climb up to mile 7.  Anyway, I still made it my goal to pick the pace up in mile 9 and see if I could keep dropping it to the finish.  I figured on finishing around 1:49 or so, and I passed many runners during the 2nd 10k. Again, I wasn't really feeling it which was tough, but I did run a solid negative split with miles getting faster and closer to "half-marathon" race pace for the last few.  I also handled the incline up High St without any issue and was able to turn the corner and push to the finish.  Along those last two miles though, I kept hoping that NY won't feel as tough and doubted that I could possibly run 13.1 more miles!

My splits for the race were as follows, so I know I shouldn't be so displeased, but I am.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:47:34.1	13.26	8:07
1	8:22.2	1.00	8:22
2	8:24.3	1.00	8:24
3	8:11.3	1.00	8:11
4	8:47.0	1.00	8:47
5	8:13.9	1.00	8:14
6	8:12.2	1.00	8:12
7	8:16.9	1.00	8:17
8	8:11.7	1.00	8:12
9	7:59.5	1.00	7:59
10	7:50.2	1.00	7:50
11	7:48.7	1.00	7:49
12	7:48.3	1.00	7:48
13	7:30.7	1.00	7:31
14	1:57.3	0.26	7:23

After the race, Cheryl, Brittany and I walked through the chutes to get food, chocolate milk, and our medals.  Unfortunately for the RD, there was a medal snafu so they were not yet there (lost story, but he (the RD) sent out a wonderful apology owning up to the issues as anyone under 2 hrs basically didn't get a medal.  They were available later and since we were staying to watch the full finishers, we did get ours.  Cheryl and I headed to our hotels to clean up and come back to watch Karyn and Anne finish the full.  I managed to position myself about 1/2 mile from the finish (in front of the Arena where I got my picture taken with Stinger, the Blue Jackets mascot) while Brittany went back to run in Karyn and then Anne.  

Me & Stinger Spectating

Both ran well with Karyn running a 3:25 which is a 3 min PR and placing 2nd in the F50-54 AG.  This was awesome since she claims to have not had a great race last year and I remember her being so tired before last years race.  Anne finished in 4:13 which is a major PR for her (and her first marathon really doesn't count as she walked NY with her sisters several years ago in 6 hrs).Both proved that Coach Tim put together a great plan for the group.

Speaking of Coach Tim and the rest of the Sole Train runners, he, his brother, Joe, and Kyle also ran marathon PRs, Amanda (our other Group 3 training peep) ran a 1:42 half which was a PR, Cheryl ran a solid 1:47 as well (I passed her in the last 50 m, but she got me in overall placement (yeah) as it is a trend for me to pass her in the final few yards), and my tour guide, John, ran a 1:38 without any major training.  All in all it was a well done race and I may consider running and I'm hoping to be able to keep this fitness and run a "fast (for me)" marathon next fall since NY is a tougher course with the bridges and the crowds.

Final stats:

Location	Race Time	Time of Day	Pace Between	Overall Place	Division Place	Sex Place	Age Graded Place	Passed / By
Time	1:47:33	9:19:11	7:58	1071/10411	11/384	354/6827	194/10411	335/21
10K	52:48	8:24:26	8:30	1557/10381	18/382	591/6808	269/10381	180/316
ChipStart	2:08	7:31:39		1192/10411	12/384	435/6827	435/10411
GunStart	00:00	7:29:32

The Week After......

Below is a picture of Mike & I at the finish line.....

It was pretty warm (close to 80F) by then and we felt every degree.  It was good to get it done and bring it home though.

I did recover better than I thought I would immediately after we finished.  I felt tight, sore and a bit dehydrated so I forced myself out of bed the next morning to run a nice easy one with the Sunday morning group (we really run to have coffee) and it was nice to catch up with Brenda and Paul as I had not seen either one of them since before I left for CHQ in June.  Brenda recently got married so it was good to hear her talk of the ceremony and honeymoon as it passed the time and we ran a pretty solid 10K.  I felt good from the first step - no real soreness especially where I expected it (Achilles, calf, foot, hammie) which was great since I knew the week would bring a couple of tough workouts.

Tuesday's track session once again was made up of a 3K, 2K, 1K, 800m ladder but with only 90 sec rest, and even with the higher humidity sue to the overcast day and slightly warmer temps, we nailed the run as a group.  I am proud to say that I am hitting the McMillan calculated paces and I also ran a 3:24 800 m.  I have not run a sub 3:30 800 m in  very long time.  And last year before Indianapolis, I could barely run a 7:19 mile, now I can run a sub-7 without a lot of effort.  Tuesday's run was followed by an easy recovery run on Wednesday and a tough "long tempo" run on Thursday.  I was quite worried about the tempo run as it was to be 8.5 miles, but we got it done, got progressively faster (down to 8 min pace which is where that same trusty calculator says I should be aiming for with my tempo runs.  It is so nice to have the group to do these runs with as last week it was tough to do it by myself.  I am running track times equivalent to what I ran 4-5 yrs ago, so maybe I should trust myself a bit more.  Saturday's workout brings a 12 mile Marathon Pace run and I am going to aim for 8:35-8:40 pace.

Combined with the running, I've been good about getting in 2 classes per week with Meredith and Cindy as well as continuing to work with Jake on the problem areas.  I usually see him prior to my Tuesday and Thursday sessions and I have found that it wakes up my legs and the stretching that we set aside and do at the finish of each workout has benefited me tremendously.  Not too many weeks left before NYC (28 days or so), and I think (hope) I am in a good place.  We will see after tomorrow's pace run. 

Akron Marathon Pacing and Such

Well another good mileage week has gone by again as the training for NYC continues.  Besides running almost 21 miles yesterday while pacing Mike at Akron (more below), I had a decent week. Slightly lower mileage (only 46+), but some good quality miles including a solid speed session on Tuesday and hills on Thursday.  This week brings another solid track workout followed by an 8.5 hard effort run on Thursday and a 16 miler on Saturday with 12 at pace.  Not really sure what my marathon pace should be, but I know that NYC is a crowded race, so I'm going to try and go for the 3:45 to 3:50 again. I think I'm in pretty good shape and similar to when I last ran NYC in 2011, but I was 3 yrs younger then and I was doing more mileage in a given week. I was not; however, doing any of the core work.  We will see in a month as to what works best for me. I feel strong, but you never know.

As for yesterday, what a strange experience.  I planned to meet Mike around mile 8 of the Akron course. Mike is a bald, tattoo covered guy from the Bronx that shouldn't be hard to miss.  I also told him where I'd be, what I was wearing, and he said he would be in the 4:25-4:30 area hopefully with my friend, Brett, the 4:25 pacer.  So after the runners start, I warm up and run about 2 miles over to the water stop that is about the 8 mile mark near the 3rd relay exchange to wait for him. I see all the front runners pass and cheer many friends, and I'm waiting and waiting and no Mike. I'm a bit worried, but sure I missed him.  Finally the 4:45 pace group goes by, and I decide that I must have missed him.  I addition, the 55F weather is also turning to 65F weather, so I decide to leave and hope to catch him.  I take off on the course and cover roughly 10.5 miles (at an 8:40 pace) and there on the hill is Mike - yeah! So I catch him and abruptly slow to his pace which is now about 10:40 per mile.  The sun has come out and the 2nd half of the course has a pretty brutal set of hills.  Mike is running with a girl, Megan, that he trained with and she is looking to pick it up some - so I tell her that I'm staying with Mike as promised and I do.  We then cover the last 8+ hilly miles of the course together and finish in 4:30 (his official time) accomplishing my 20+ miler and his 4th marathon for which he raised awareness for the Cleveland Rape Crisis center.  I was pretty spent when done and the woman giving out the medals was shocked that I didn't want to take one (I did pay for the race, no bandit here - so I took the socks & jacket they gave to the registrants as well as the beer!).  It was very warm at the finish (in the 70s) and I was tired - happy though when I made myself go to this morning's run to find out that nothing hurt or was out of place and my Achilles was fine as I ran an easy 6.2 miles.

The Akron Marathon is really well done and unlike Cleveland, Akron loves their marathon.  The whole city come out to cheer on the runners (there is a half and marathon relay as well) and in spite of the challenging hills in the 2nd half, runners love the race.  There is good swag, it is well attended (over 15,000 total runners as the races were sold out) and it is well managed.  The Cleveland marathon might be older, but it sure could take a few lessons from Akron and Clevelanders could sure take a lesson or two from the Akron spectator community.  There were spectators pretty much the entire length of the course including along the towpath section to where it is hard to get.  It makes a tougher course (there are no hills on the Cleveland course) feel relatively easy with all the enthusiasm in the air.

Great news regarding the scum bag here in Cleveland as he was confirmed to be the perpetrator on both attacks.  Glad that he is off the streets sorry that it had to happen.  Yesterday during my pacing duty at Akron with Mike, who gave the inspirational talk at the #TakeBackTheRun event, a relay runner came up behind us going up one of the hills.  He slowed to ask Mike if he was the speaker at the event and after saying "yes", the guy thanked him as it turns out he is the boyfriend of one of the victims.  Weirdly small world.  Well, here we are at mile 21 and they are swapping emails so that Mike can get the victim the resources she might/will need to come to full closure and get on with her life. I'm just a witness to all of this, but very proud that I'm helping Mike get his goal and kind of a peripheral part to this cool encounter.

Mike sporting his medal after the race.  How could I have missed him???

As I stated above, this week is another with some tough mileage.  I'm looking forward to it - I think.

First Big Week

Well, after Sunday's race, most runners would have taken a few days break, but no, I am in the midst of marathon training and I'm feeling very good.  This week has been an indication that my fitness is right where it needs to be.  After taking Monday off, I ran a strong track session on Tuesday, an easy recovery run on Wednesday, a strong tempo run on Thursday, an easy 3 mile Event on Friday, and 20 this morning!  After tomorrow's 6 mile recovery run, I'll be at 48 miles for the week.  First week up in the high 40s for the week - and I feel good.

Thursday's tempo run scared me a bit as I didn't think my tired and sore (thanks to Meredith and Cindy and our Wednesday morning class) legs would cooperate, so I was very surprised to see the tempo miles done at an average 8:05 pace with the last mile being at half marathon pace.  And I survived!  My legs actually felt better after the run than they did at the start.  Good sign, I believe.

Friday night, I participated in a special event run organized by the Cleveland Moms Run this City group in support of two women who were attacked on the near west side in ate August/early September.  This was a 3 mile run and over 600 runners/walkers, etc showed up.  The event was 

given a great deal of press and PR and it was very uplifting and empowering. Thanks to the group that organized the event.

This morning I ran my first 20 miler and I doubt that I would have done this on my own, so thanks to Anne, Jen, Kara, and Kathy.  We did it and I feel better for it.  And in an overall time of 3:12 (first three miles slow and last three on the trails (so slow), I feel like I ran well and strong.  Legs were tired at mile 15, but at mile 20 (and now), I felt better than I did on any long run this summer.  Here's to hoping that this bodes well for NY as well.

Now it is time to head back down to Edgewater Park and watch a couple of crazy friends participating in the North Coast 24 which is a 24 hr run done by running a 0.9 mile bike path loop and cover as many miles as you can in 24 hrs.  Twenty mile might seem crazy to some, but frankly, that is nuts!

Erie Half Marathon

Last Sunday, I ran the Erie Half Marathon once again.  This was the 2nd time that I have run this race, but since it is almost the exact same course as the Presque Isle Half, I am of course incredibly familiar with the course.  The course differs in that the start/finish area are 3 miles off and in the fall race, there is a concurrent marathon as well.  Because of its calendar timing, its flat course, and the promise of cooler weather, the marathon is usually a sell out as many runners from the surrounding areas (Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and even Toronto) flock to Erie to run a BQ.  Also because of its calendar timing, this BQ can be used for two subsequent Boston entry years.  This is an extremely well run (directed) race and the Erie Road Runners club is top notch.  They are so good that they even drove to Cleveland to deliver a well earned Masters award (more later).  

Not needing a BQ, but in the midst of NY marathon training, I was again using the race to see exactly where my training was at.  I knew after HTC that I was in better shape than last year on my way to the Monumental Indianapolis Marathon, but you never know.  A number of members of my local Cleveland Second Sole Running group were participating in both the half and marathon events with three hoping to BQ and one running her first marathon.  I went to my summer house in Chautauqua as it is 45 min from Presque Isle, and we (my friend Chris from Cleveland, CHQ, and 2nd Sole) went to the small, but surprising Expo on Saturday afternoon and then joined several of the 2nd Sole runners for dinner at the local Olive Garden.  Food was so-so, but the company was excellent.  The three running marathon the next day were nervous, but all were ready.

The next morning Chris and I left at the ungodly hour of 4:45 and set out for Presque Isle.  We got there by 5:45 as instructed and were able to use the bath house bathrooms without any lines and go to the starting area quite easily.  Chris has originally intended to run the marathon but had been a bit injured and turned to lots of cycling over the summer (her forte as she is an awesome cyclist) so she was still starting with the marathoners intending to do a long run.  After all, she is joining myself and our other summer training friend, Mary Pat, in NY for the marathon.  She ended up running 19 miles which was uplifting and the motivation she needed.  She started with our other friend, Christine, who was doing her first marathon and had an incredible plan in mind.  I must say that I have never seen a first timer pace themselves so well in a marathon.  So well, in fact, that she ran her fastest miles in the last 10K and Chris and I missed her finish which was a strong 4:27.  So strong in fact that she ran a 2 min negative split in her first marathon!!!!!

As a half marathoner, we started 30 min after the marathoners and I lined up with another 2nd sole buddy, Craig, and off we went. I knew that Craig was in great shape as he had made it through an excellent training cycle without any injuries and he was asking all the right questions about taper and fueling.  Not really sure how I was going to run, I set my sites on running at least a sub 1:45 (I ran 1:44:44 in July) and hopefully a sub 1:43 (I ran 1:43 and change last year).  I also hoped to stay strong through the entire 13 miles.  Of course, the weather cooperated in that it was in the low-50s at the start with relatively low humidity, so things were looking good on that front.  Craig and I ended up in the same pack for the first 7 miles after which I looked at my watch and was a bit scared since I was moving right along at a 7:40 pace.  Not sure that I could hold it, I dropped back a bit letting Craig go.  I re-grouped around 10 miles (my pace never really dropped off, but it felt like it did) and hoped to finish strong.  I did lose a bit in that last mile, but not like last year where I completely lost it with two 8:15s for miles 11 and 12, and I was able to give it everything I had finishing in 1:40:59 (net time).  I was psyched as not only have I not broken 1:41 (or even 1:43) on that course, I have not run that fast since the Houston half in January, 2012 at which time I was training for a half, not a full. That time as good enough for 114th out of 1003 overall finishers and 3rd (soon to be 2nd) in my AG and 7th Master.  Hopefully this can translate to a positive NY race.

My overall splits were as follows (and I had 1:41:59 on my watch):

Mile 1 - 8:00          Mile 6 - 7:34          Mile 11 - 7:40

Mile 2 - 7:38          Mile 7 - 7:33          Mile 12 - 7:52

Mile 3 - 7:36          Mile 8 - 7:41          Mile 13 - 7:43

Mile 4 - 7:32          Mile 9 - 7:35          Mile 0.17 - 1:17   

Mile 5 - 7:37          Mile 10 - 7:39

As for kudos to the Race Director, my running buddy, Karyn, who won our AG with a super strong 1:34:37 was beaten by some women by 4 seconds for overall Master.  Karyn questioned this as she saw no women near her and with a 4 sec differential, this women must have been right in front of her.  In looking up results for this women on Athlinks and other sources, it showed that she repeatedly ran around a 2 hr half.  Hmm, that is a big PR.  So we waited for the photos, and lo and behold, the Masters Female Winner was a "Guy"!  Karyn kindly brought this up with the RD, who investigated, realized she was right, and drove her award and other swag to her here in Cleveland.  Karyn deserved that award as she ran an awesome PR herself, and the RD just made me want to run more Erie races every year as he did the right thing!

In the end, it was a great day for all the 2nd Sole runners - the three looking for BQs made the times (although with the craziness of Boston entries, they may not get in :( ), several PRs were run (Angel, Brittany, Karyn, Craig, Christine) and several AG awards were had.  Erie, we will be back.