Must be any given Sunday, because I'm posting another race report!
Today was the Birmingham Half Marathon, a thoroughly enjoyable race. Weather was exceptional, cool enough to be pretty cold standing around at the start but not to the point I had to wear gloves or a head covering for the race. Probably around 40 or so. A marathon was also taking place, and there were around 1k runners in that to go with the 3k or so in the half. This made it a large race, but nothing like "Disney large." After the first few miles the pack was spread out well enough, and those were on really wide streets so there was plenty of room to find a rhythm.
DW and I drove up from Florida Sat afternoon in about 4.5 hours, and stayed in the Candlewood Suites about 10 miles from downtown. Definitely a hotel chain worth checking out for those wanting a "cheap, but not too cheap" option when visiting major cities. I've now stayed there in both Austin and Birmingham with great experiences. The suites have full kitchens with refridgerators, freezers, microwaves, toasters, dishes, the works. They seem to cater mostly to extended stay type guests, but for $65 all inclusive that was well worth driving a few extra miles to the start to avoid the $180 they wanted downtown for the 1 night.
I made the drive in, found a great parking spot under a big no parking sign that had "M-F" in real small print that I guess no one noticed that put me within a block of the start and finish areas. Huddling in the auditorium that housed the expo was the name of the game as it was still in the 30s as the sun was rising. I should mention the entry fee at $65 was pretty steep for a non-Disney half, but the schwag was pretty sweet. A long sleeve cotton shirt picked up at the expo just for registering, and a dri-fit bright red short sleeve one for finishing. Filling out a quick survey for Verizon probably bought me some sales calls in the future, but they also were giving away free dri-fit shirts so that was well worth it for me. Three shirts, two of them dri-fit for once race! Expo was medium sized, the usual booths and taste test stations. Post race food was bbq sandwiches with chips and fruit to go along with the stuff they had at the finish which was the usual powerade water and bananas. All in all not bad bang for the buck, more on the bling later!
Having run a 9:48 average pace the week before in Tallahasse after taking it out slow and running negative splits later, and having ran really hard the day prior at 8:44 pace for 5 miles, I wasn't really sure how my splits were going to turn out today. I was actually really sore still from the fast race, and for the first mile or so I wasn't feeling much better, so I began to worry if chasing my friend was going to cost me big time. The large pack was yanking me along though, so I opened with 2 miles in sub 9:30 pace.
One thing I wasn't prepared for were the hills on this course. Early in the race they were just little upsie-daisies, no more than 20 feet high or so up to some intersections or around corners and down the other side. It's been a long time since I ran a hilly course, and it really was refreshing to use a variety of muscles. It just gets so monotonous running a flat course and clicking off mile after equal split mile, and I think that's actually mentally tougher in the long run. Having the top of the next hill to focus on, or flying down a downhill and letting the momentum carry you through the flats is a great way to break up a race into smaller pieces. Miles 3-5 headed out of downtown and up into the hills, with just sort of long gradual climsb occasionally. My gel plan was the same as last week, 4-8-11 mile markers. They actually had "E-Gel" out on the course in basically the same spots, but I stuck to the "don't try anything new on race day" theory and stuck with my strawberry banana PowerGels. For the second straight week I forgot to bring the stretchy waist pouch I got at Disney so again I was carrying the gels in my hand, which by the end of the races leads to a sore right shoulder due to the continuous clenching instead of just loose hands.
Mile 6 is where it got interesting. I knew that's where the elevation chart had showed the hill, but I just wasn't prepared mentally I guess. It was literally a mile long, and you could see the whole thing from the bottom. Worse yet, the pretty steep grade was continous throughout, until the last .2 miles or so, when got even steeper. The saving grace was they had a classic drumline playing at the top, and those beats really helped pump the arms up the hill. My pace dropped off a bit to over 10:00, and I began to think I'd be averaging about the same as the week before. We were rewarded with a brief downhill, but miles 7-9 were pretty much continuous rollers. Up and down up and down, fight up a hill trying to keep your heart rate under control, then fall down the other side trying to keep your legs from windmilling too fast. Eventually the marathoners broke off around the 9 mile point, which was interesting because right before they turned off the 4:15 balloons caught me. Quick math told me that sub 2:10 beating the week before was not only likely, but I was on 2:07:30 pace with what should be a lot of downhill yet to come. That was short lived excitement though as I then made a quick left turn into something that literally made me groan.
We were to run about 30 yards on a street before another right turn, but that street was like, "San Francisco" steep. I could have sworn I saw someone going down on all fours to climb up it. The bizarre thing was this area of the course was in a little German looking town with narrow streets crowded with spectators who were well out into the street. This left a little gap for the runners which almost made it like the Tour de France. People cheering on both sides, going crazy because they have plenty of time as you try to crawl past them. Up up up some more and finally we hit the water stop at the peak of the ridge. Garmin seems to think I did 600 feet of climbing, but the elevation sensor tends to not be the most accurate in my experience, so who really knows.
Then came the steepest downhill I've ever run in an organized race. All that climbing made me think that we were getting the shaft when it came to the compensating downhill, and we got it all back and then some. I think even some of the flats were really false flats up to that point, because it seemed like we descended a whole lot more than we climbed. I literally was having to maintain correct running posture just to keep from flying forward and landing on my face. So many people were leaning way back and slowing themselves down, whereas I just kept yelling "GRAVITY WORKS" and windmilling my legs down the hill arms a-flailing. We'd make a turn, then more downhill, then a switchback, then a downhill that was steeper still. My pace for the 10th mile was sub 9, but portions of it were actually sub 7, which is pretty ridiculous. This momentum carried me into the 11th with even more gradual downhill to go with a bunch of flats as we started heading back towards downtown. I started doing the math again and realized I'd gained even more time after back to back 9 min miles, and had a shot at going under 2:05. The tall buildings didn't seem to be getting any closer, but eventually they did, and a fun kick through the downtown area led to a great finish by the park and my name being announced over the loudspeaker as I crossed the mat. Still a far cry from the sub 2 hour race of last year, but a huge improvement over last week, and on a hilly course! I was again very pleased with how I felt late in the race (probably due to all the downhills miles 10-11) and with the negative splits towards the end. I'm thinking if I stick with something like 11mpm for the marathon I might actually manage to avoid the 17mpm splits I chunked through late in the race the last time I ran one by myself...
1: 9:28
2: 9:17
3: 9:19
4: 9:45
5: 9:53
6: 10:22
7: 9:39
8: 9:47
9: 9:38
10: 9:02
11: 8:57
12: 9:08
13: 8:37
.1 (.26 on mine): 1:56
Total:
2:04:47
Now the bling! I'll have to post a pic, the medium sized pretty heavy silver medal is actually the Mercedes logo, which looks pretty spiff! Something shiny something shiny! Will add the race pics with it later!
And now, it's taper time! Wait didn't we just do that?!? Ack, no races until the LA Marathon 3/2, what am I going to do with my weekends?!?
P.S. geez Anne can't you see I was in the middle of typing my short novel?!? So impatient!
More on tomorrows half marathon when I get home tomorrow night!
to Cheryl for her knee.
