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Comments: The gun went off and I settled into my planned pace: Mile 1: Feeling good, HR down, right on pace. About 8-flat. Mile 2: Uphill. Slowed down, HR goes up a bit but I feel strong. 8:10-ish Mile 3: Steep downhill then flat. Opened up a little, HR goes down, feeling great. A little under 8. Right where I want to be...now comes the uphill part. Mile 4: Slow climb; still feel good - one of the loudest cheering areas as the marathoners merge with us. Still holding pace...about 8:10 Mile 5: Up, then down, then up again. Tough mile to pace but overall around 8:10. This is starting to get harder to hold and a tough spot is coming up. Suck it up, buttercup. Mile 6: 1st soul-sucking hill, pace falls to high 8s. I'm fatiguing. Mile 7: More up, then steep downhill to Lake Montebello. 8:30...1:45 isn't looking so good but I was still around 59 minutes through 7 miles Mile 8: Pancake flat loop around Lake Montebello, lots of cheering and music so I tried to get back to the 8-flat target pace but it wasn't happening. 8:13 or so. Mile 9: This section crushed me four years ago and I wasn't letting that happen again. I tried to hold around 8:20 but couldn't, HR is spiking and I'm starting to fade. Again. Pain cave is deepening. 8:48 Mile 10: Rolling hills; the uphills are knocking me down to high 8s and I can't even hold 8-flat on the downhills. I hit mile 10 at 1:25 and change. 1:50 still in reach but I'm not feeling a sub-25 5K in me. Mile 11: Downhill but that didn't seem to help any. I couldn't hold below 8:15 or so...wheels are getting loose. I'm not sure if I'm thirsty or not. Mile 12: Full-on BONK!. I hit the Charles Street bridge and that steep climb wasn't happening. I walked it. I stepped to the side of the road and stretched for 20 seconds. Kept walking. Jogged down the other side, then we go uphill again and I walk. I keep walking. Even that sucks. I'm almost laughing right now I'm being passed by so many runners. I kinda of jog/shuffle for the rest of that mile, coming in at a smooth 10:36. Mile 13: Given my condition, I decided to mail this in a bit and just cruise in so I don't hurt myself and enjoyed the final mile. I picked it up a little bit through Camden Yards to the finish line and saw my family and I just started laughing and shaking my head as people were sprinting by me. What would you do differently?: Run more. Oh, and not gain 10 pounds over the summer. :-)  Post race
Warm down: Walked around and started shivering (got real windy at the end). Found the family and my wife had bought me a cool UA warm-up jacket. W00t!!!!!! I hit the hot tub early and often over the next couple of days. Four days later I'm still a little beat down. What limited your ability to perform faster: Long-run endurance, I guess. Race day execution? Nutrition? Hydration? I'll figure this thing out one day. Event comments: I love this race. it's so cool running through the Baltimore neighborhoods and I got to run by my own house this time. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this distance. I think there's a weekly mileage threshold necessary to get where I can be and my body just won't hack that. I think there was also some expectation management that I need to address going forward; I clearly went out too fast and faded. I'm great at pacing shorter distances but haven't figured this one out yet. That said, I'm thrilled that I was able to race this again. A little disappointed for sure but not every race can be perfect. Last updated: 2014-07-15 12:00 AM
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United States
Baltimore Running Festival
65F / 18C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1290/8643
Age Group = M 45-49
Age Group Rank = 70/333
This race officially cemented my return to distance running. Almost three years ago, my knee and back doctors told me I'd never run again. After lots of trial and error I figured out a way to get back at it with an acceptable level of discomfort and have had a great past 12 months.
At the running festival last year I broke 23 minutes in the 5K, followed by PRs in the 10K, 5 miles, and 5K again over the next 8 months, including breaking 22 minutes for the first time since high school. I also raced an Olympic triathlon in May.
All that was left was to conquer my white whale, the Half Marathon. I've completed the race 4 times and finished in a little over 1:50 back in 2010, but was on pace for more like a 1:47 before blowing up the last 5K.
Training went well minus a couple of back flare-ups and getting sick once. I had the highest run mileage in a month since I've started tracking this stuff and felt well-prepared going in. The taper was perfect; I was ready to jump out of my skin by the end of the week.
Based on my VDOT, I should be running this around 1:44; I was thinking more in the 1:48 range.
Typical pre-race meal, beer and pizza. Slept pretty well and woke up around 4:30. Did a quick 20 minute spin on the trainer to get loose and hit the foam roller. Ate a zone bar and an apple. We drove down almost last minute and got there about 45 minutes before gun.
WU was jog for 1/2 mile, stretch, and then a few strides before the race started. I was carrying about 16 oz of watered-down Gatorade and I was limiting myself to that to avoid the cramping hell I went through 4 years ago.
The Plan called for holding 8:00 miles, slowing a little uphill, speeding up a little downhill. I mean, what could be easier than that??? :-/