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Chilly Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Newton, Massachusetts
United States
Fattman Productions
48F / 9C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 12m 14s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

For the record - this is not the way to approach a race... I haven't run in almost two weeks due to soreness in my left knee and I didn't put a lot of thought into preperation. In fact, last night I made beer and didn't get to sleep until 11:00 - so much for a good night sleep.

Woke up this morning at 5:30 (with a slight hangover), had a breakfast of oatmeal and blueberries, and drove to the race. I stopped for a large dunkin donuts (tradition). I decided to run in two long sleeve shirts - turned out to be the right call.
Event warmup:

Due to the fact that I had to park a 1/2 mile away, it took me a while to get to the where the race was starting, so I was only able to stretch for about 5 minutes before the race started (in fact, when I got down on the floor to stretch, I slammed by head against the wall and almost blacked out!).
Run
  • 1h 12m 14s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 05m 31s  min/mile
Comments:

Just want to put in out there that this run sucked. Starting at about 1.5 miles, my left knee started throbbing. I kept having to stop to stretch my ITB, and I could never really get the pain to go away. But I kept running and I actually had thoughts around the 4.5 mile mile mark of seeing if could break 2:00. Unfortunately, things really got worse around mile 5. My knee kept giving out. I kept texting HQ to pray and then I would text her to tell her that I couldn't keep running, and then I would find a way to run a few more steps, then I would walk some, pray some, ETC. At one point, I honestly thought I was walking the rest of the way.. Brutal. It got the point where I just had to man up. I'll tell you what - I'm a lot tougher now than I was a year ago. Before this year, I just would have quit. But I just put one foot in front of the other. At Mile 8, the tri gods smiled on me when a nice woman in the thinnest pig tales ever asked me how I was doing (she had seen me stretching but I had caught up to her). Turns out, she ran tris and talked to me for about a mile - long enough to get over the hump. So, while I had to stop to walk for a bit (and finally hit the porta potty at mile 9 - I knew the end was in sight. From then on, I kept blasting my music (Gladiator, Hans Zinner, and Keep on Rolling by REO Speedwagon got me through). I never really ran all out - just hard enough to keep cranking out sub 10 minute miles. Proud to say, I didn't get passed by anyone in the last 2.5 miles.

Gotta be happy with the outcome. Considering that I bested by time from my training runs for the HIM by more than 15 minutes and how much pain I was in, I was proud of the outcome.
What would you do differently?:

Not sure - I was so focused on just finishing.
Post race
Warm down:

Not much here - grabbed some grub, stretched a bit and then hopped in the car and came home. Right knee on outside was really hurting big time. I stretched someone and then went out for burgers and beers (doesn't that solve all the world's problems).

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Knee Pain. Also didn't really have a plan going in... I just wanted to finish

Event comments:

A good run on a beautiful day. The race was pretty well run, well marked, and the people were nice, But this race left a few things to be desired: 1) The lack of porta potties was a joke. (The line for the ladies room was at least 30 people long). They didn't have enough along the route (maybe 5 or 6 for the entire course. Plus - there was no food at any one of the stations (luckily I had brought 2 gus just in case) and the small cups of gatorade were childlike. 3) The finisher "medal" turned out to be a pair of gloves on a lanyard. I'll use the gloves - but...

I would do the race again... but it wasn't the "best" race of the year.




Last updated: 2012-02-09 12:00 AM
Running
01:12:14 | 13.1 miles | 05m 31s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Mile 1 - 10:21 Mile 2 - 9:13 Mile 3 - 9:57 Mile 4 - 9:52 Mile 5 - 8:45 Mile 5.1 - :52 Mile 6 - 9:50 Mile 7 - 11:10 Mile 8 - 10:26 Mile 9 - 9:45 Mile 10 - 9:59 Mile 11 - 9:33 Mile 12 - 9:37 Mile 12 - 9:30 Mile 13 - 3:19
Course: This course was flat to start and finish and there were some serious hills in between (two ranked hills - 5). There were more than 1,000 people running - and there wasn't always a ton of room to run. However - it was an absolutely beautiful fall day!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2012-11-11 3:06 PM

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Expert
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Subject: Chilly Half Marathon


2012-11-12 12:58 PM
in reply to: #4493901

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Expert
1662
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Spokane, WA
Subject: RE: Chilly Half Marathon
Just 2 miles over 10:00.  That's a good run.  Rest that knee up for a month, then ease back into it.  Next year is going to be your best year.
2012-11-12 3:31 PM
in reply to: #4493901

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1058
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Fallon, Nevada
Subject: RE: Chilly Half Marathon
Nice job!  You sound like you were pretty relaxed going into the race.  Way to not be a mental midget!
2012-11-12 8:03 PM
in reply to: #4495139

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Subject: RE: Chilly Half Marathon

kevinbe - 2012-11-12 12:58 PM Just 2 miles over 10:00.  That's a good run.  Rest that knee up for a month, then ease back into it.  Next year is going to be your best year.

Hell ya it is!  I think I might have come close to breaking 2:00 if my knee hadn't gone south on me... However, I gotta say I'm pretty proud of the fact that I motored through despite the pain.

2012-11-13 2:35 PM
in reply to: #4493901

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Champion
5312
5000100100100
Calgary
Subject: RE: Chilly Half Marathon
thats a hellava race for sure. Hope that knee stops throbbing soon.
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