This weekend was Grandma's Marathon weekend in Duluth. I was lucky enough to be selected for a half marathon spot via their lottery system.
I did very few long training runs leading up to this event. Other than Goldy's 10 Mile and pacing the two hour group for the Maple Grove Half Marathon, I haven't even approached a ten mile run this spring. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape, but distance training has been at a minimum.
I went into the race trying to beat my previous best of 1:50:35 which was established in 2006 at the Urban Wildland Half Marathon. At that time I was prepping for the Twin Cities Marathon.
We arrived in Duluth on Friday and had a relaxing evening of dinner with our hosts/friends. We went to bed around 9:30 and set the alarm for 4am (ouch!). I was up a few minutes before the alarm. We had breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter and a banana, and caught the bus to the starting area at around 4:50am.
We had a long wait before the 6:45am start of the race. I worked my way through the thousands of people and found the 1:50 pace group leader. I knew that he'd bring us in just under 1:50, which would beat my goal. This works out to about an 8:23 mile.
It was very crowded over the first mile. I found myself doing some zig-zagging, but managed to keep my eye on the pacer and not let him get too far out of sight. By about mile 4 it was pretty easy to stay within 20 feet of him. He did not walk through water stops (he never drank!) which is my habit, so I had to catch up after every water stop. Eventually I just got ahead of him leading up to the water stops so we'd even out after them.
The miles really flew by. I never realized how often I check my watch and focus on timing until this race when I didn't have to think about it. By about mile 11, I was pretty sure I could stick with him until the end but it would be a challenge. The sun was out and the day was warm and muggy.
When we got into Duluth with a couple miles to go, the crowd really helped me through the tough parts. When we finally got to the DECC around mile 12.5, I asked the pacer how much time we had "in the bank" and he said about a minute. Then I knew I had it in the bag. It felt terrific to finish. I could have maybe finished 30 seconds or so faster if I went all out for this race, but not much more (if any). Here are the splits:
1 - 8:55
2 - 8:12
3 - 8:04
4 - 8:13
5 - 8:08
6 - 8:06
7 - 8:20
8 - 8:26
9 - 8:20
10 - 8:14
11 - 8:17
12 - 8:21
13 - 8:16
13.1 - 7:59 pace
Total chip time: 1:49:12
5K: 25:55
10K: 51:41
19 mile: 1:23:13
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Goldy's Run, 4/14/12 - 10 mile
This was the first major race of 2012. I "ran" the Valentine's Day 5K in February, but it was a total fun run and speed was not the objective.
Goldy's Run begins just outside of the Gopher football stadium in Minneapolis. I knew very little about the route when I started the race, so I just tried to play it by ear. My PR at a 10 mile distance is 1:17:00, and I knew I didn't stand a chance to get close to that. I typically try to keep it around 1:20, but that's for later in the racing season when I have some speed work under my belt.
So for this race I was shooting for around 1:24 to 1:26. My friend Tammy was running with me and she said that she'd be happy with a 1:26 or so - a perfect running partner!
The race started off down University Avenue toward the river. It was pretty crowded for the first mile or two, with little opportunity to pass others. There was an early hill at about mile 2. I also noticed that the first mile marker was at the 1.09 mile mark on my Garmin. Others noticed the same thing. This 0.09 to 0.10 discrepancy held throughout the race, which was kind of a bummer.
The race had several large hills in the last half of the race, which really tired the runners out. The weather was perfect, but not good enough to relieve us from those darn hills. There was one especially steep one at about mile 8.5 as you cross the river for the final time and arrive back into the U of MN campus. We needed a short walking break at the top of this hill.
I finished in just over 1:25, and Tammy finished in the 1:26's. I felt pretty good at the end, but definitely tired. I don't know how much faster I could have finished if I had run on my own (if at all). Overall, a good kick-off to the 2012 racing season. Next up, Trail Mix next weekend!
Goldy's Run begins just outside of the Gopher football stadium in Minneapolis. I knew very little about the route when I started the race, so I just tried to play it by ear. My PR at a 10 mile distance is 1:17:00, and I knew I didn't stand a chance to get close to that. I typically try to keep it around 1:20, but that's for later in the racing season when I have some speed work under my belt.
So for this race I was shooting for around 1:24 to 1:26. My friend Tammy was running with me and she said that she'd be happy with a 1:26 or so - a perfect running partner!
The race started off down University Avenue toward the river. It was pretty crowded for the first mile or two, with little opportunity to pass others. There was an early hill at about mile 2. I also noticed that the first mile marker was at the 1.09 mile mark on my Garmin. Others noticed the same thing. This 0.09 to 0.10 discrepancy held throughout the race, which was kind of a bummer.
The race had several large hills in the last half of the race, which really tired the runners out. The weather was perfect, but not good enough to relieve us from those darn hills. There was one especially steep one at about mile 8.5 as you cross the river for the final time and arrive back into the U of MN campus. We needed a short walking break at the top of this hill.
I finished in just over 1:25, and Tammy finished in the 1:26's. I felt pretty good at the end, but definitely tired. I don't know how much faster I could have finished if I had run on my own (if at all). Overall, a good kick-off to the 2012 racing season. Next up, Trail Mix next weekend!
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