Heels & Hills Half Marathon - Race Recap

I signed up for Heels & Hills with the understanding that it involved neither heels nor hills.  It's a race to celebrate women's fitness.  Apparently the old course had some hills, and they kept the name.  :)

 

This was my second half marathon, and though I had turned in my best time to date at Cowtown, I was eager to improve.  I knew I had come out too fast on that one, and it had cost me down the stretch.   After a 2:13:47 finish in February, I had originally targeted a 2:10 today.  My coach suggested 2:07 and built a race plan accordingly.

 

After what happened last time, I was conscious of trying not to start too fast, though it was hard with the adrenaline and the flow of traffic.  First mile today was 9:40 (compared to 9:24 at Cowtown), and that still felt too fast.  The air was cool & crisp, so I felt like I was pushing just trying to get my breath.  In the future, I hope to make my first mile my slowest, knowing that once I really get warmed up, I can easily make up the time.  This way of thinking is quite a departure from my days in academia, when my goal was to do so well in the first part of the semester that by the end, I could fail the final and still do well in the course.  (Even though I never did fail a final!)  But running is different.  If I try to run fast early so I can coast the rest of the way, I actually end up feeling awful and even "coasting" feels hard.  So I'm trying to reframe it.  Rather than banking time I can use at the end, I want to bank energy and save that for a strong finish.  I always feel better physically (and mentally) when I run a negative split. 

 

I started the race without music, but after the first mile, I popped my earbuds in.  The course is along the beautiful Campion Trail in Las Colinas, but unlike many races on city streets, there were only a few spectators and signs and no bands along the route.  Kinda boring.  :)  So glad I stayed up a few extra minutes to download a couple new tunes and throw together a playlist last night!  One musical highlight was Cake's "Going the Distance."  Great song for racing!

Despite tightness in my hamstrings the day before, they were okay today.  (I'd used the seat warmer on the drive over!)  But at mile 2, I noticed tenderness in my right lower calf that continued throughout the race.  It was mild enough for me to push through and didn't feel like the kind of cramp that would go away with stretching, so I didn't bother to stop.  But I do think it slowed me down.

 

The other thing that slows me down is hydration/nutrition.  I have yet to master to run the art of ingesting fluids or fuel at top speed.  I had walked the aid stations @ Cowtown, so this was my first attempt at refueling on the go during a 13.1 race.  I more or less successfully navigated the challenge of drinking from paper cups, getting more water down my throat than up my nose.  :)  But the first cup they handed me was Gatorade instead of water.  That was an unpleasant surprise!  Better look before I drink!  I also found it tricky timing my gels with upcoming water stations (and the intervals were not exactly what I would have done if I had full control of my hydration), so I'm hoping to try out carrying just one water bottle on my SPI-belt for my next race. 

The goal was to run miles 1-8 at a 9:45 pace, and I did exactly that (9:44.5!).  Honestly, I was hoping to go a smidge faster.  I had set my watch to alert me if my pace crept up above 9:50 or dropped down below 9:35.  But every time I would edge down a little below 9:45, I'd lose the time because I had to slow down for GU or water or Kleenex or something.  (Note to self: glad I packed 3 tissues.  I really try to avoid blowing snot rockets on my fellow racers, and 4-5 Kleenex wouldn't be too many!) 

For miles 8-11, I was to run between 9:30 - 9:45, though with the understanding that if I wanted to, I could start to push around mile 10.  My times were 9:36, 9:31, and 9:23, so I stayed right on target, taking a little bit of the freedom I was given at mile 10.  I had hoped to open it up a little more for the last 3 miles, but I felt like I needed to keep holding back to finish strong.  I ran miles 11 & 12 both at 9:23 and had wanted to really go for it the last full mile but was worried about not having enough in the tank to keep top speed for a full mile.  As the last mile began, Dropkick Murphy's "Shipping Up to Boston" came on, which had a whole new significance after the events of 04/15.  I was bemoaning being thirsty after what I thought was the last water station at mile 11, and then happened upon an extra station set up for one of the shorter races.  I grabbed one last sip of water, and with about a half mile to go, I finally turned it up and gave it all I had the rest of the way. 

The last few yards, there were some folks letting their small children get on the race course between me and the finish line.  I was yelling for them to get their kids out of the way, so that will probably make for some interesting race photos.  :)  I crossed the finish line breathless (sexier than puking!) and was floored to see the time on my watch: 2:04:55.  I knew that I had accidentally stopped my timer for a few seconds when adjusting my watch mid-race, but I also thought I might have started it a few seconds earlier (when I crossed the first mat instead of the 2nd at the start line).  Turns out, my watch exactly matched my posted chip time! The course was a tad short (13.03), but I don't feel too badly since Cowtown was 13.2 for me.  Maybe this says I'm getting better at running point to point!  Either way, I'm really happy with a time under 2:05 when my original goal was 2:10 and my coach's was 2:07.  And that's with a calf issue most of the way and feeling good...not great.  If the way I felt on last week's training run was a 10, then I'd say the way I felt today was about a 7, and I still killed it, relatively speaking.

Can't wait to see if I can take another 5 minutes off my time over the next 5 weeks and be at sub-2 for Wounded Warrior on June 9!  Time to get to work...which starts with resting and recovering!  :) 

I began my recovery @ IHOP with my cousin Kim and her wife, who brought their 2 toddlers.  It was so great of them to come out and meet me at the finish line.  So nice to get to share the experience and exchange hugs with people who love me!  All in all, a very good day!