It’s already been 3 weeks since my huge half marathon PR of
1:16:09; I cut off over 3 1/2 minutes!
I had such a great time traveling to Nebraska and spending time with my family on this trip. My dad and I went on electric bike excursions and walks at a park. My parents and I went to the Omaha zoo, then my cousin and her family came to visit and we went to the Sunken Gardens in Lincoln.
The race started early, just as the sun broke the horizon. Minutes
before the race I ran into my friend Nina, who I met at Gulf Coast 4 months
prior. She told me of her ambitious 1:14 goal and I told her of my more
conservative one of 1:15, but once the race began we got swept up in a fast
pace running alongside each other with a tailwind at our back. As soon as we
turned shortly after the 10k timing mat pace was soon forgotten and I said “switch
off” and tucked behind her, a cross wind breaking our quick stride. We slowed
down by about 30 seconds per mile, from 5:35 to 6:05. The rest of the race
would be effort-based survival, dreams of sub 1:15 were dashed. When it was my turn
to take the lead, Nina fell off and I was left alone, racing Northbound on flat
asphalt in the middle of acres and acres of barren fields. The headwind was NNW
11-12mph, with a few gusts, maybe 17mph.
With maybe 2 or 3 miles to go I felt my form start to break
down, and my left hamstring flared up. The last quarter to half mile turning
into the finish the wind was no longer in my face, and I was able to finish
strong. A lonely finish line to match
the lonely back half of the race. I walked about 400m and greeted my parents,
who hadn’t seen me race in so long! They had taken several photos of me
finishing and were happy to have been able to come out and support.
The next day my legs were toast, my left hamstring extra
sore. I rolled out and stretched extra and made sure to move throughout the day.
It was nice to enjoy another day with my family before heading home. I was a
little disappointed with the weather and really considering doing Grandma’s Half
Marathon in Duluth, MN. The turnaround would only be 8 weeks total, so with 5
days off only an 7-week training block. I decided this was really what I wanted
to do, despite it being somewhat of a risky choice by mentally and physically.
I’m now 2 weeks into the training plan and seemed to not have lost much fitness, completing similar workouts to the ones I did in the build-up to O.NE since those worked so well! I’m looking forward to a fast half at Grandma’s, hopefully the wind doesn’t follow me 😊.
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