Training: I replayed a DB 22 week marathon plan starting in July. I mostly stuck to it until I got derailed in October with too much racing and simulated racing. I could see I was not going to be in shape for the half marathon. I sent up the signal to get help.
@DopeyBadger responded immediately and put me on the right track. Just like running a marathon is not the same as running 2 halfs, training for a half using a full marathon plan is not twice as good. In the beginning of November, I morphed the full plan into a half plan based on DB's suggestions. My longest run ended up being 15 (twice). I felt ready for the race.
My history at Rocket City: I've run the RC full marathon 5 times. Of the 5, 2 were death marches and 4 were (at the time) PRs. 2012 was both. It was my second full and the one that got me hooked. RC is my favorite marathon due to the easy start/finish logistics, the course, and the city itself. They added a half a couple of years ago. I signed up this year on a whim.
Day before the race: RC is a 4.5 hour drive for us. The fastest route is down to Atlanta, up to Chattanooga, and down to Huntsville. I opted to skip Atlanta traffic and take the back roads. It rained the whole way, but I'd rather drive in the rain than run in it. We stayed at the race host hotel, Embassy Suites. The 2 room setup works perfectly for early morning race preparations without waking the DW. I was bummed to find out that they no longer have a hot tub and the indoor pool was closed for maintenance.
The expo is fairly small and not crowded. I picked up a couple of gels and a free do-rag. The actual finish line is in the middle of the expo, so it's nice that you can set a meetup spot. As we're leaving the expo, Elton John's Rocket Man comes on. Rocket Man is DW's nickname for me, mostly due to running RC so many times. I need to throw away a paper towel. I start to walk toward the trashcan but stop and throw a 15 foot jump shot. It hits the rim and goes in. I take this as a good omen.
Our pre-race dinner was at the City Cafe Diner, one of the few restaurants I know of where you can chose from pasta, pancakes, potatoes, and perogies (do all high carb foods start with 'P'?). I had pancakes and 'naked' perogies (boiled, not fried, no butter and onions). I know some people think perogies are weird, but with my Pittsburgh roots, I think they are the perfect carb-loading food. After dinner, we walked through the park (right next door to the hotel) to see the 'Tinsel Trail', 300 decorated trees lining the pathways. We returned to the hotel and I laid out 'Flat OSGG' and called it a night.
At the expo:
Tinsel Trail:
Pre-race: The half starts at 9AM, exactly 2 hours after the full. I got up around 5 even though it wasn't necessary; it's just what I do on race day. I hung out in the hotel lobby and talked running with the other runners. I talked to a guy from Knoxville trying to break 4 for the first time (he didn't) and a guy from Oxford Mississippi trying to BQ (he did). I'm usually pretty shy, but race morning brings out my social side. I had breakfast at the hotel buffet, a couple of bagels with PB&J and a small helping of fried potatoes. The weather was around 45 degrees and cloudy, but no rain. A little warmer than I prefer, but not bad. I opted for compression shorts, tank top, Goodr sunglasses and throw-away gloves, sock arm-warmers, do rag, and trash bag bummed from the hotel cleaning staff.
I like to think I looked like a rock star, but it could be a hobo that found a pair of sunglasses.
Race: The start was 2 blocks from the hotel. I walked over with a woman from Memphis trying to break 1:55 (she did). I jogged for 10 minutes and stretched a little. I ate half a banana and 3/4 of a gel. I ditched the garbage bag before the start. I'm
not a nervous racer and today was no difference. The gun goes off and I do what I trained for. I tell myself this is no different than a usual Saturday long run, except there's a big clock at the end. My goal was to break 1:50, an 8:23 pace. I manage my pace by monitoring average pace and lap pace with half mile auto laps. Here's what happened. This is based on the auto laps. I believe based on the mile markers, the pace was slightly slower.
I went out a little fast, but not drastically so. Mile 4 and 5 were right on the money.
At mile 6 I made a bad decision and then compounded it. I didn't have to pee, but wasn't sure I could make it to the finish without stopping. I decided if I saw a vacant porta potty I'd stop. My thinking was that I'd rather have 6 miles to make up the time than 1 mile. Bad decision number 1: stopping when I didn't need to and wasting about 30 seconds. Bad decision number 2: I kept telling myself that I had 6 miles to make it up, but I tried to make it up immediately. I did miles 6, 7, 8 too fast, trying to get the average pace back down to 8:23. I knew it was the wrong thing to do but couldn't stop myself. I feel like I wore myself out and canceled out a strong finish.
10 and 11 were slightly slow. I saw the DW around mile 12. I was ready to ditch the sunglasses as they were really fogging up (seems worse on the Goodrs). I gesture wildly from a quarter mile away. She sees me and thinks I want a high 5, so I'm trying to hand her sunglasses as she's trying to slap them out of my hand. I'm glad to report the sunglasses survived. Mile 12 and 13, I tried to step on the gas but nothing happened, not even Prius gas. I could see the sub 1:50 slipping away. With about .5 miles to go, I could see that 1:51 and a PR was in danger so I did manage to find the gas petal and got across in 1:50:53. The finish line is in the Von Braun Center (big convention center) and they call out your name and hometown when you're about 50 feet from the finish. As usual, I give the volunteers a scare and they want me to go to the medical tent, but after a minute or 2 of hands on knees and huffing and puffing, I'm good. I rang the PR gong and moved to the food. They have a big spread but I passed on everything except chocolate milk. I found the DW at our prearranged meetup spot.
Bling: The shirt is a nice long sleeve tech shirt in a nice but unusual red-pink-coral color. We got an additional shirt at the finish. It doesn't do anything for me and will end up in my throwaway stash. The medal is nice and heavy and actually much nicer than the marathon medal.
Post-race: We head back to the hotel, a 5 minute walk through an enclosed sky bridge. I cleanup (kind of) and we walk to the park for a celebratory lunch. There's a pizza place attached to the art museum with a heated patio. The course is slightly different this year, with the last mile being through the park, so the patio has a view of the race course.
The traditional post-race meal with runners in the background!
As we leave the restaurant, the sweepers go by (RC has a strict 6 hour limit). Little brooms instead of balloons. One of the sweepers look familiar. When we get back to the hotel, the sweepers get in the elevator with us. I realize why she is familiar. I asked if she paced the x:xx group 2 years ago and she says yes, so I get to thank her 2 years later for pacing me to a full PR! I decide I'm not ready to crash so we Lyft out to a military museum. Back at the hotel, I do finally get cleaned up (really this time) and crash. We walk to a place in town for dinner and I have 'tart flambee', which is a fancy name for pizza!
Sunday we do some touristy things: Space and Rocket Center (which the race runs though), the Botanical Gardens, and Bridge Street Town Center, a big downtown-y outdoor mall. I score a Trash Panda shirt for our nephew, who is a big baseball fan.
Monday morning we had an uneventful trip back home. The cats had managed
not to wreck the house and were happy to have their waitstaff back.
Conclusion (finally!): Monday morning I had the same feeling as leaving Marathon Weekend: relieved that it's over, but sad that it's over. Since I didn't make my 1:50 goal and the race seemed harder than I thought it was going to, I keep thinking of it as a disappointment. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a 'real' PR, beating a year and a half old PR that was on a wildly downhill course (2000 ft drop). I need to savor ringing the PR gong; this stuff doesn't get any easier as you get older. I don't know what's next for me. I need to decide if I want to take a crack at the 5 and 10K PRs. And I'll probably do the Tear Drop Half (that's the downhill course) to try and best this PR!
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Not sure why I felt the need to be so long-winded.
. I might suggest looking up sports therapists verses physical therapy. I think you might get some better options. Not that there is anything wrong with the chain physical therapy places, but they tend to work on more general people and those coming off surgery. i have used them before but after finding this person, i like the more running centric. She is actually a licensed therapist and a licensed triathlon coach. She does a lot of things and will even run mindfulness clinics. I found her through the local triathlon club.
(still got my Goodrs on)
