Half marathon report

This was my first half marathon since having Baby C in March.


I ran the Prairie State half in Libertyville (northern Chicago burb) on Saturday and got a PR (personal record) of 2:09:22. It's a nearly 3-minute PR from the 2:12 and change I ran at the North Shore half (also Chicago burbs) in 2010. (Hmmm, I think I see a Chicago burb/PR theme here... maybe I need to leave the city for races more often!)

Longer version: Leading up to the race, I kept thinking I wouldn't be in PR shape. My "training" hadn't really been training, just more like post-partum comeback running. Baby C will be seven months next week, so I was trying to be realistic.

But I secretly did want a PR, so I'd been trying to work in speedwork as I could. You just do what you can running-wise when you have wee kids.

The week was pretty tiring, with both kids getting up really early and Baby C still only occasionally sleeping through the night. On Friday night I went to bed at 9:30 and hoped for the best, I was so tired. Saturday morning came around and I felt OK. I got up at 5 and did my usual half english muffin and water, while packing up my stuff. I heard the kids getting up just before 6 and scooted out the door.  It was already 64 degrees out but fortunately cooler up north.

I drove for a couple of minutes and realized I didn't have my sport beans. D'oh! I drove back home and got them.

I drove away and then realized two blocks later I forgot my iPod. D'oh! I almost never run with music but I knew I'd be running most of the race solo and wanted to have it just in case I started dragging and I needed a pick-me-up. By this second trip back home Little Toddler Man and Baby C were up. My toddler kept saying "mommy, what you doing?"  as I raced around trying to find crap. 

I finally got up to the race site. I didn't realize the entire race was on a forest preserve. It was stunningly gorgeous. The sun was just coming up and there was this mist over a sizable lake, which was surrounded by trees with gold and orange leaves. Wow. I started to look around for the two women I knew who were running it. I planned to start off with them but I was really itching to race. Fortunately, they understood.

Before the race -- so pretty!

I love smaller races. This race was a full marathon and a half marathon. I'm guessing there were fewer than 100 marathoners and maybe 500 half runners? This is this particular race's second year, so that's part of it -- no one's heard of it, and it happened to fall on the same weekend as the Chicago Marathon, but gosh, so refreshing from Chicago's typically enormous races. The Chicago half that I have done for several years in September, by comparison, is like, 20,000 or 30,000 runners? So this was just great. 

Once the race started I just was itching to go. It was still cool outside and the air smelled so good. I felt great. I forgot to look at my watch when I crossed the start line but I figured I'd time my miles after the first mile marker.

My goal was to do 10-minute miles, and aim for sub-10 if possible. I also decided to try to run harder early on -- I know, that's not what you're supposed to do -- but I wanted to take advantage of it being cooler, since the forecast was for the 80s and the race started pretty late (8 a.m., ugh -- I prefer an earlier start).

I felt fantastic the first five miles, running sub-10s! I have a watch, not a Garmin, so I don't know my exact pace. I was pleased. The next three miles it was definitely getting warmer, but I stayed sub-10.  Then around mile 8-9 I started feeling kind of tired. Not good. But I knew it was because I was pushing myself. I put my headphones on around mile 9 and just tried to focus on sub-10s.

After mile 10 I was hot. And nauseous. I get overheated so easily -- it's what killed me in the Lincoln, Neb., marathon in 2010. I swear, if it's sunny and warmer than 50 degrees and I'm running, I get really hot. Go figure.

I had to do a couple of quickie walk breaks. I dumped water on my head a few times. The forest perserve had several shady spots, fortunately, but there were also a lot of sunny stretches.

When I got to the 11-mile marker, I realized I had just run just over a 10-minute mile, so I was slowing down. I was feeling so slow and tired. The sun was punishing. I was disappointed that I might just be konking out because I started off too fast. One of these days I will actually learn how to race smart.

But I kept thinking about how close I was to my old 2:12 PR set in 2010 at the North Shore half. To run a 2:12 you have to average about a 10 mm pace the whole race, and here I was actually doing sub-10s. If I wasn't so close to my PR, I would have taken it easy. But man oh man, when you're that close? You just gotta run your butt off.

Which is what I did. Miles 11 and 12 sucked. It was sunny, hot and I felt a bit like the death march at the end of a full marathon. I got to the 12-mile marker and was a bit over a 10mm pace but not by much. I don't know how I managed this, I was  so darn tired. I tried to pick up my pace after that my legs felt like they had concrete blocks strapped to them, they were so sluggish and heavy.

But there was that PR possibility, just dangling. I couldn't give up now. What if I actually PRed less than 7 months post-partum? How badass would I be? That's what I kept thinking about.

The last mile was on concrete, after most of the race being on nice crushed gravel trails. The course in the last 3/10ths of the mile was downhill and I kept looking around to see if there was an uphill after that, inwardly groaning. And where the hell was that finish line? I seriously wanted to stop running and puke in the grass, I felt so awful. But oh, that PR...

Finally, I saw the finish line and summoned up whatever I had left to pick up the pace. I saw the race clock in front of me and holy crap, it said 2:11 and change. I was going to PR!!!! Holy moly! I booked it across the finish line before it could hit 2:12. I crossed at 2:11:42, I think, and I knew my chip time would be even better. I had PRed! I did it!

I staggered over under a tree and had to bend over, I was sure I was going to throw up. I always feel like I'm going to hurl after a race but never do, and didn't this time, either. I just stayed there for what felt like a long time until I could lift my head up again. I grabbed some water, oranges and a bagel -- and some Halloween candy, too, and stretched.

I then walked up to a woman I didn't know and asked her to take my picture in front of the start line, holding my medal, grinning like a crazy lady. Yeah, baby, I PRed today!