2010 1/2 Marathon race report
Well, this one didn't get done when it should have. It's now over 1 year since I ran the race so I doubt I'll remember all the details, but for the sake of getting it recorded, here it is.
2:29:31 -- My worse time ever. Now it's only my worst time ever by 11 seconds, but this year my training was going much better, I was running much more regularly, and pushing my pace faster and faster. I was expecting to beat by former time by as much as 15 minutes as training progressed. I used a modified of Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1/2 marathon training schedule and felt like things were going so much better than they had in previous years. I was doing longer runs this year than in previous years, keeping a faster pace, I had pushed my recovery pace up by about 1.5 minutes per mile to about 11 minutes per mile, and my running pace was much better. Everything looked so good. Then the week before the race I wasn't feeling so well. I had been running a slight fever, and developed a cough that kept me up at night. The end result was I wasn't getting good sleep, and instead of tapering I just quit running the last week before the race. If I could have moved the race a week I would have happily done it, but alas, the Lincoln Marathon is only run once per year.
This year my brother Tim ran with me for the race! We both had training (I trained much harder, but he was in much better shape) and we started the race off together. Tim was nice and ran with me for about the first 2/3rds of the race. Then towards the end he said his knees were starting to hurt so he picked up the pace, and left me in the dust. It was all good though, I was happy to see him out there, and happy to see him beating me -- even if secretly I wanted to beat him so very badly. My start was pretty slow compared to my training and then probably around the 7 mile mark I just felt like I was running out of steam. I kept pushing myself to keep going and managed to avoid walking during the race, but around the 10 mile marker I felt like I was running in quick sand. Mentally I was starting to fog up and it took everything I had just to keep going. Well, at the end of the day I crossed the 50 yard line in Memorial Stadium (which was pretty cool) and finished in 2:29:31. I was kinda disappointed with my time but happy that I finished in under 2:30.
I also ran most of the race with Missy. It was a lot of fun having her along for the run. She stuck with me and Tim for most of the race, then towards the end those two took off together to finish well ahead of me.
Epilogue: After we went out for the post race dinner one of my boys wasn't feeling very good. I took him over to Lincare (an urgent care facility) and figured while I was there I'd ask them about my cough. Well, as it turns out whatever my boy had was viral and he would just have to give it a day or two to clear his system. Me on the other hand . . . well I had bronchitics! The doctors gave me a prescription to fix me up and the next day I was feeling better, sleeping better, and my wife was less pissed of at me too. I told them that I'd just finished running 13.1 miles earlier that day and the staff was pretty impressed. Not that I should have been at the hospital, but I was in no shape to run a 13 mile race either. Once I found out how sick I was -- well, 2:29:31 seemed forgivable.
2:29:31 -- My worse time ever. Now it's only my worst time ever by 11 seconds, but this year my training was going much better, I was running much more regularly, and pushing my pace faster and faster. I was expecting to beat by former time by as much as 15 minutes as training progressed. I used a modified of Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1/2 marathon training schedule and felt like things were going so much better than they had in previous years. I was doing longer runs this year than in previous years, keeping a faster pace, I had pushed my recovery pace up by about 1.5 minutes per mile to about 11 minutes per mile, and my running pace was much better. Everything looked so good. Then the week before the race I wasn't feeling so well. I had been running a slight fever, and developed a cough that kept me up at night. The end result was I wasn't getting good sleep, and instead of tapering I just quit running the last week before the race. If I could have moved the race a week I would have happily done it, but alas, the Lincoln Marathon is only run once per year.
This year my brother Tim ran with me for the race! We both had training (I trained much harder, but he was in much better shape) and we started the race off together. Tim was nice and ran with me for about the first 2/3rds of the race. Then towards the end he said his knees were starting to hurt so he picked up the pace, and left me in the dust. It was all good though, I was happy to see him out there, and happy to see him beating me -- even if secretly I wanted to beat him so very badly. My start was pretty slow compared to my training and then probably around the 7 mile mark I just felt like I was running out of steam. I kept pushing myself to keep going and managed to avoid walking during the race, but around the 10 mile marker I felt like I was running in quick sand. Mentally I was starting to fog up and it took everything I had just to keep going. Well, at the end of the day I crossed the 50 yard line in Memorial Stadium (which was pretty cool) and finished in 2:29:31. I was kinda disappointed with my time but happy that I finished in under 2:30.
I also ran most of the race with Missy. It was a lot of fun having her along for the run. She stuck with me and Tim for most of the race, then towards the end those two took off together to finish well ahead of me.
Epilogue: After we went out for the post race dinner one of my boys wasn't feeling very good. I took him over to Lincare (an urgent care facility) and figured while I was there I'd ask them about my cough. Well, as it turns out whatever my boy had was viral and he would just have to give it a day or two to clear his system. Me on the other hand . . . well I had bronchitics! The doctors gave me a prescription to fix me up and the next day I was feeling better, sleeping better, and my wife was less pissed of at me too. I told them that I'd just finished running 13.1 miles earlier that day and the staff was pretty impressed. Not that I should have been at the hospital, but I was in no shape to run a 13 mile race either. Once I found out how sick I was -- well, 2:29:31 seemed forgivable.