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Okay, I didn't, like, win, or anything. But I came in at 1:24:20, which is a big PR over my time 3 years ago in this race (1:30:33) and beat not only my publicly stated goal of 1:26 but my seekrit goal of 1:25. I also made my goal of "not walking up the big hill." Also of "not feeling like I want to throw up."
It rained all night - I woke up at 5 and it was still pouring, went back to sleep, woke up again at 7 and realized I had to scramble to get to the race which started at 8. Had a cup of coffee and a couple of fig bars - it had quit raining but was still beautifully overcast and cool, yay. Jogged to the start, did a couple of strides, said hi to the people I knew, and it was time to run!
I felt really good - no cramps, no aches. The only issue I had was that I started getting a sort of asthmatic wheeze going around mile 3.5, and looked forward to the aid station - and they didn't have water, just this red sticky Powerade, and I drank a little, and ICK. So I kind of wheezed my way up the big hill and the next water stop they had water, thank GOD, and I drank it and felt a lot better.
The other sort of amusing thing is that the course crosses the tracks for the tourist train to Silverton right around mile 2.5, and it parallels the tracks for a mile or so before that, so I could see the train coming and it looked like we might get to the crossing at the same time! Fortunately it worked out (and I adjusted my stride) that the train just finished the crossing as I got there, with all the tourists waving at us - I ran right behind the caboose! (Two runners got caught and had to stop and wait.)
Also it started raining around mile 8.5 but by then I didn't care, it was fine.
So, let's play the game of "guess the course profile"! Here are my splits: 8:10, 8:15, 8:28, 8:36, 8:42, 9:44, 8:29, 8:06, 8:01, 7:48. I guess you can see the big hill, huh? My pace on the steepest half-mile of the hill averaged 10:32, not bad considering the 7.7% grade! The total elevation gain/loss was around 500 feet.
Anyway, I am totally thrilled with this result. I wanted to average 8:20-8:30 without the big hill (up or down) and I think I got it. That 8:06 is actually for a pretty flat mile, and overall I averaged a little better than 8:30, which gives me a lot of confidence for the much-flatter half marathon in another four weeks.
It rained all night - I woke up at 5 and it was still pouring, went back to sleep, woke up again at 7 and realized I had to scramble to get to the race which started at 8. Had a cup of coffee and a couple of fig bars - it had quit raining but was still beautifully overcast and cool, yay. Jogged to the start, did a couple of strides, said hi to the people I knew, and it was time to run!
I felt really good - no cramps, no aches. The only issue I had was that I started getting a sort of asthmatic wheeze going around mile 3.5, and looked forward to the aid station - and they didn't have water, just this red sticky Powerade, and I drank a little, and ICK. So I kind of wheezed my way up the big hill and the next water stop they had water, thank GOD, and I drank it and felt a lot better.
The other sort of amusing thing is that the course crosses the tracks for the tourist train to Silverton right around mile 2.5, and it parallels the tracks for a mile or so before that, so I could see the train coming and it looked like we might get to the crossing at the same time! Fortunately it worked out (and I adjusted my stride) that the train just finished the crossing as I got there, with all the tourists waving at us - I ran right behind the caboose! (Two runners got caught and had to stop and wait.)
Also it started raining around mile 8.5 but by then I didn't care, it was fine.
So, let's play the game of "guess the course profile"! Here are my splits: 8:10, 8:15, 8:28, 8:36, 8:42, 9:44, 8:29, 8:06, 8:01, 7:48. I guess you can see the big hill, huh? My pace on the steepest half-mile of the hill averaged 10:32, not bad considering the 7.7% grade! The total elevation gain/loss was around 500 feet.
Anyway, I am totally thrilled with this result. I wanted to average 8:20-8:30 without the big hill (up or down) and I think I got it. That 8:06 is actually for a pretty flat mile, and overall I averaged a little better than 8:30, which gives me a lot of confidence for the much-flatter half marathon in another four weeks.
