Mercedes Half Marathon

Pre-Race
Up at 430 and downstairs to eat breakfast…cup of coffee, waffles w/ pb and honey, cup of OJ. I broke out the body glide (best thing ever made) and donned my race apparel (tri shorts, orange adidas shorts, black thermal shirt, black race fleece, wool socks, brooks running shoes w/ foot pod, HR strap, and race cap. I grabbed my race bag and headed out the door at 530. It didn’t feel like it was too cold outside. I stopped at the BP to get a Gatorade and then made my way downtown. As soon as I got on the interstate, I realized I left my HR watch on my nightstand…expletive, expletive. I tried to call MH on her cell but no answer…expletive. This is just how I wanted to start the race day off. I then called the house b/c it would be a lot less surprising to hear the house phone ring at 530 than to maybe hear the garage door open right? The loving wife that she is ran it downstairs so I could just grab it and be on my way. I rocked the tunes on the interstate getting pumped up for the race and pulled into my parking spot around 6. I ate an apple and sipped on my Gatorade. My buddy Jeff rolled up around 615 and we made our way over to the starting corrals. Turned out it was a lot colder than it was at my house. I was really wishing that I had another layer on. At least I grabbed the trak shak gloves that came in our swag bag. I just needed to be sure that I didn’t pull my wedding band off when I threw the gloves to the curb (this is called foreshadowing). Had a GU and hit the port-a-johns at 10 til start. We made our way to the line and waited for the gun to sound.

AND WE’RE OFF
I still had my Gatorade bottle in hand when we started. I looked for a trash can to put it in but decided I might as well just keep it. Jeff was going to run the full, but he said that he would run with me for the first 13.1. We hit a 4/1 interval. We would run around 10 min miles for 4 minutes and then walk for 1 minute. It was hard to make ourselves walk. Your blood gets pumping and you want to go all out, but you have to keep telling yourself that it is 13.1 miles (or 26.2 miles) not just a 5k.

It was crazy crowded out there this year. For the first 3 miles or so it was pretty thick and we had to weave in and out. Felt great out there now. I tossed the gloves to the curb around mile 2. We were averaging around 11.5 minutes per mile. I’d sip on my Gatorade, take a water at the water stops, and eat a GU around every 45 minutes. I thought that I would be uncomfortable running with the bottle, but it wasn’t bad at all. It was nice not having to wait for a water stop to get any fluids.

We hit the 10k mark at 1:10:15. This was turning out to be one of my best runs ever. Around mile 7 is when the pains started. Every step would send a sharp pain through my knee. I never thought I’d love to hear a watch beep. Being on a run/walk routine was paying dividends now. Around mile 10, the leader booked past us. Then a few minutes later the second and third place runners passed us. The third place dude was booking it. He ended up chasing down the leader and winning it all! He’s a local guy that works at the Trak Shak in Trussville. By now my knees were numb so no more pains…woohoo. We made our turn heading north on 20th Street and all I wanted to do was finish. I ignored my watch and just kept running. I was turning out 8 minute miles for the last 1.5 miles. Jeff split off to do his second loop. I was weaving through people. When I realized I wasn’t going to hit 2:30, I slowed a bit so I could kick hard the last couple of blocks. I saw Lynn Park and could hear the announcer. Something about that gives you that last burst of energy you need to run just a little harder. I rounded the corner on Park Place cut back to the right in front of City Hall and booked it across the finish line. My watch had 2:32 and change when I finally stopped it.

Post Race
I got my bling and finishers shirt and walked over to see Jeff pass by on his second loop. I was feeling great…a heck of a lot better than last year. I headed on home. I tried to go the whole ice bath route, but that just wasn’t going to happen. I ended up just kneeling in the tub b/c I couldn’t bring myself to drop “everything” in the icy water. I decided to just go ahead and shower and then ice my knees the old fashion way.

So remember my wedding band…when I got dressed, I realized that I didn’t have it on. I started having a bit of a panic attack. I looked all in the bathroom and bedroom…nothing. All I could see was the clean-up crew picking up all the shedded clothing and finding a ring. No way would they be able to find out who it belonged to. That’s even if they found it. The gloves get donated to the homeless. So I guess the upside would be helping out someone in need…right? I go downstairs trying to figure out what I was going to do. Heather’s brother is there so I try to act normal and talk with them for a sec. Then I go in the kitchen and look where my keys and wallet were…nothing. My heart started to sink just a little more. Then I look at the kitchen table and there it sits….Whew! I have never been so relieved.


Here are the stats for the race…

Official Time 2:31:49 (I shaved about 24 minutes off last year’s time. I finally have a PR!)
Division Place 131/152
Overall Place 2441/3256
Sex Place 1314/1572
Mx HR 199 (highest ever!)
Avg 160
Max Pace 7:49
Avg Pace 11:31
Cals Burned 2615

This was an awesome race. The half mary is definitely going to be a race that kicks off my year from now on! I have a Dr’s appt on 2/18 to get my knee checked out. Keep good thoughts.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “You feel good while your running and you feel even better when you’re finished”~Fred Lebow, Founder of the New York City Marathon