Lake Sammamish Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

I went into this race as a tune-up for Boston. I knew it was going to be a really deep field on the woman's side so one of my big goals was to not worry about racing and focus on the things I needed to work on.
Those were as follows:

1. Navigating the cluster-fudge at the start (because Boston is going to be a whole lot more difficult)
2. Starting out conservatively
3. Working together with different groups during the run
4. Smart fueling

The start was a cluster. I knew it would be. It was a whole lot of people funneling into a pretty narrow course. I ALMOST ran right into a lane dividing post. After about the first half mile or so we had pretty much spread out. There were a couple women out ahead that I had seen at other races that I was pretty sure I was in shape to beat but I stuck with my plan and held back.

As I was running I noticed this guy trying to keep up with me. He looked like Cheech (from Cheech and Chong) At first it was hilarious but then I noticed he was trying to ... race me I guess? He would speed up and pass me and then slow down and as I caught up to him he would speed up some more. He was breathing SOO hard, like a breath every step. I actually was starting to get concerned for him. But at the same time I was kind of laughing inside because the situation was so funny. I also was singing up in smoke in my head. Finally he dropped off (thank goodness) and I ended up seeing him in the park at the end (yay, he finished!)He disclosed to me that he was banditing the race (no kidding.)

Anyway, things were going well so my next mission was to get into a group with similar pacing. I found a girl and another guy and we ran together for a while. The girl said her goal was around 1:30. I worked on letting them lead and then leading myself. I took a gel at mile 3 because I knew a water station was at mile 3.5. put the gel packaging in my left hand, grabbed the water with my right,drank the water, put the packaging into the water cup and discarded. NAILED IT!

By about mile 6 I decided to leave my beloved group. Their pacing felt really inconsistent and it was hard to get into a rhythm. I pushed ahead and was kind of in a no mans land until about mile 7.5. I had just left the water station and two guys pulled up. I asked them what their goal was and they said they were going for just under 1:30 but were ahead of pace. I was pleased to hear this (since I don't wear a watch.) I jumped on with them and started cruising. These guys were a joy to run with. One of them just had a beautiful stride and I pretty much just focused on that, practiced taking turns and floated along with them. Finally we hit that crazy out and back portion of the race. It's too bad because I was feeling fantastic at this point and was really starting to crank it up. Being a little conservative in the beginning had paid off greatly. But the turn-arounds in this weird out and back portion really did suck a lot of momentum. By this time I had dropped my two new guys, which was a shame because they really helped me out a lot. I was passing quite a fw people through this portion. The out and back segment really took a lot out of everyone, mentally and physically. I finished the out and back portion and then cruised to the finish. I saw the time and was shocked. I PRed by like 5 minutes and ended up 8th woman overall.

I don't think I would change anything.

I made a beeline for the free massage. It was amazing. I saw a lot of my friends finishing the race from the massage table but between being tied in a knot like a pretzel while drooling I wasn't really able to cheer them on.

I still have some distinct thumb-print bruises. I think I am a total wuss.

Then I got to meet up with some wonderful BT people and FINALLY have a beer!


Just not tapering and running it as a tune-up


I might re-think that last portion of the race. It's pretty tough mentally and physically at the end of a race.