The Cowtown - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

In the end, today just pissed me off. And hurt like hell. So here's how it went down...

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Felt better once we started running and the shivering stopped. My pace felt good. The 1:40 pacer started just ahead of me, and I caught him in the first couple of miles and started slowly pulling ahead. At this point, the lower back pain/ache from a couple of days ago didn't seem to be a problem. I could occasionally notice where the ache had been, but it wasn't slowing me down.

Unfortunately, this started changing. Around mile 5, I started noticing it a bit more. It didn't seem to be slowing me down; however, I wasn't able to really bump up the pace then, which was my original plan. By mile 7, it was clearly getting worse. I was having to start pushing through the discomfort. During 8, I was pushing to continue running until 9, but I made it and told myself I could make 10. It took a lot of willpower to keep running from 9 to 10.

But at mile 10 I couldn't keep it up. The pain in my sciatica and hip with each step was too much, and my leg kept threatening to buckle under me. Very pissed off, I was forced to a walk. And even that f'ing hurt. No way was I going to NOT make the finish, but even steady, short walking strides hurt. Faster walking was as bad as running.

I'd try to start again - sometimes I'd make it 20 feet, sometimes 50 yards, before the leg gave in. It was a gimpy, limping stride, and I found myself really tight in the middle and even holding my breath as I tried to stabilize my core.

It was frustrating to watch the 1:40 pace group pass me, and it sucked being passed by everyone for the next 40 minutes. I know all the people offering encouragement meant well, but I really didn't want to hear it at that point.

When I hit mile 10, I was still on pace for about a 1:38 finish. In the end, I took my last effort to force myself to shuffle-jog the last two-tenths of a mile to beat the 2-hour mark, and I crossed with less than a minute to spare.

Can't predict the injury. I could have considered dropping out at the point I couldn't run, to avoid more serious injury. That's an ego issue I need to get over.

Would have been OK in the long-sleeve technical tee, I think.

Straight to the medical tent, where they tried to stretch it out a bit. Helped only a little. Grabbed a bag of food before heading to the car. Took forever to hobble the two blocks because every step hurt.

The car ride home was the better part of an hour. Sitting still must not have been good, because getting the 20 feet from the car to the house could only be accomplished in little, excruciating, 6-inch steps. Followed by lying down on the floor.


Only the lower back issue that only first manifested itself a couple days ago. I probably could have used some more cruise intervals in my training, but overall my fitness was decent otherwise.


Very nice event. Course is well managed, crowds were supportive. The 5-year medal is a really cool idea. Even some live bands out on the course for entertainment.

On-site registation on Friday was a mess. Well, registration was fine; payment took *forever*. Really, folks, credit cards should be fast and not 5 minutes per person. The expo was pretty decent, though.

Fantastic quantity of food for the racers, some good - fruits, yogurt, pretzals, popcorn - although a little surprised at some of the junk food (packaged doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, ice cream).

4/8/09 -- Doc initially assessed as pinched nerve, but wasn't resolving. MRIs finally confirmed a stress fracture in the right sacrum. I guess I can be proud that I still managed ~9min/mile. (Trying to be glass-half-full here.)