Get Lucky Half Marathon Race Report!

It's been a while since I was able to sit down and write in here. Things have been busy. I've been travelling and grading way too many intro astronomy papers. Consequently this race report is a bit delayed.

But! I ran the Get Lucky Half Marathon on St. Patrick's Day in St. Paul. There were a few hiccups for me with this race for me. First, the cold I had acquired a week before the race was not going well. My resting heart rate was still much higher than it was un-sick. That's usually a sign to not run. Consequently, I took most of the week leading up to the half off from training and focused on getting better. It was no dice though. I did a brief two miler the before the race, and I could still barely run a solid 8 minute pace. But I figured I would just start off with an 8:30 pace group and see how I did. Instead of aiming for my 1:45 time, I had to decide that as long as I came in under 2 hours, I'd be happy.

And then came race morning. I actually slept well the night before. I got dressed. It was a warm day, so I stuck with the singlet for the day. I wore my Green Silence for the race. I hadn't done too many long runs in them, but enough to know that they were comfortable up to about a half. I checked my blood sugar prior to race start. I was around 200. A little higher than I like to start a race with, but I was afraid to give myself insulin to bring it down. I probably should have though.

Due to all the traffic, Rachel dropped me off at the race start and left to go park the car. Then, when I got to the race, I only had 15 minutes prior to the start and really had to go to the bathroom. And the bathroom line literally snaked throughout the entire race start. The lesson here was to leave for the real marathon even earlier than I would think necessary due to all the traffic. And so standing in line for the bathroom, I heard the race start. But we had Chip timing, and I said, "Well, the race for me will start when my Chip crosses the start," and I just stayed in line for the bathroom.

In reality, I started the race 6 minutes after the gun. Everyone else was already on the course. And so I spent the first 5-6 miles of the race weaving between groups of runners who were going slower than me. It at least kept my mind off of the race itself. And the good news was that I was holding down a solid 8 minute pace! The cold hadn't completely decimated me!

And the course went on. It was right along the Mississippi River, and was just a there-and-back course. At about mile 5 I got to see the race leader just blowing through the course running the opposite direction of me. The closest runner was a good two minutes behind him. It was nuts.

Then, I reached the turn-around point still feeling pretty good. At about mile 7, I began noticing that the course was mostly going uphill. Afterwards, my Garmin confirmed this. About mile 8, all that uphill began to affect me, and my pace began to fade closer to 8:30 miles.

Near, the end I was just gutting it out and trying to finish. The cold had definitely taken its toll on me, and it was now becoming apparent. But I finally crossed the line just off my 8 minute pace and just kind of stood there. Then, the guy to the direct right of me immediately vomited. He was kind enough to miss my feet.

I grabbed my medal, found Rachel, and took my shoes off. A few blisters. In the final, I did 1:48:30. Given the cold, I was okay with that.

It was a fun course. I learned a few lessons. First arrive earlier to the start. Second, I needed to find a pair of shoes not my Green Silence to do the full marathon in. I've recently thrown out my Asics Gel-Blur because of shin pain they were giving me. But I've grabbed in their stead the Brooks Pure Flow, which I've now done a 15 mile run in and felt pretty good. Third, make sure I have a ride home after the full. I will not want to move after the full. So, yeah.

Training's going better with the cold gone, and the half in my legs. The long runs are getting easier, and the pace runs are easier to complete now too. Training for the marathon is exhausting though. Definitely going to do some shorter distances once I'm done with it. After all, I need to make an improved appearance at the Amana Colonies trail run, right?