Running With Jack

I woke up this morning well rested and ready for business. My goal today was to break my half-marathon personal record (PR). I just finished the most challenging marathon training cycle ever, my speed runs have been steadily getting faster, I had a week of tapering behind me and most important I had the hunger for a PR! In my mind today was the day! And to back it up I had two good nights of sleep, had a good pre-race meal last night, was relaxed and just ready to rock.

I arrived in Hambrucken, the town that experienced the tornado a month or so ago, about an hour before the race started. As I stood in line to pick up my race number a couple of guys that I run with from my running club came over and talked with me. They were running the 10K today, one wanted to try to break his PR. They asked me what my goal was, I said I wanted to break my HM PR of 1:48:12. They both agreed that the way I have been training it should be doable, the weather was almost perfect for fast running this morning, 16C/61F, no sun, only slight humidity, and almost no wind. The race route was entirely flat and a good mixture of roads, bike paths, gravel trails and forest trails.

I collected my number and spoke with a few other people from the club, three other were running the half, and a few were running the 10K. With a half-hour to go I got in line for the toilets, then went outside to warm-up.

A few minutes before the start of the race I lined up with the other runners. The 5K, 10K, and HM runners were all starting at once – it was quite crowded. My strategy was simple, try to break out of the pack as soon as I could, then try to run every kilometer at an average pace 5:00/K (8:03/M). This would get me over the finish line with a new PR. So at the start the only thing that I allowed myself to think about was the first kilometer.

As the starting pistol went off we slowly creeped forward, I new better then trying to weave forward, this uses up too much energy. Instead I waited for little pockets to open up and gradually made it out of the crowd. I was pleased to see that I finished the first kilometer in 4:55 (7:55/M), despite the slow start. I remain focused, concentrating on keeping my breathing at a steady rate and my legs pumping at a good cruising speed. I ran the second kilometer in 4:50 (7:47/M) and the third kilometer in 4:40 (7:31/M). At this point I was starting to breath hard so I let up on the pace just a bit. I don’t recall what my time was for the 4th kilometer, but I crossed the 5K point in 24:01, for an average pace of 4:48/K (7:44/M) – which is 1 second faster than my best 10K race pace.

I grabbed a cup of water at the 5K aid station, but kept running, somehow I managed to get some of it in my mouth ;-) By this time I started getting thought that maybe my pace was too fast, that I would never be able to maintain this pace and that I would end up dying at the 16K like I did last time. I shook these thoughts aside and only thought about the present kilometer. I ran kilometer 6 in 4:59 (8:01/M), oops I was starting to slow.

Becoming a little alarmed that I perhaps couldn’t maintain the pace, I dug in and pressed forward, finishing the 7th kilometer in 4:50 (7:47/M). From this point on I started having trouble remembering when I passed the previous kilometer, so I just kept track of the seconds on my watch, I was running pretty close to 5:00 kilometers, so it was easier to do this. For the rest of the race I concentrated on running under 5:00/K (8:03/M), as long as I did this I didn’t worry about anything else.

I passed the 10K point in 48:18, just 12 seconds slower than my best 10K time! Rather then getting cocky I kept pushing forward, the race wasn’t over yet. I grabbed a cup of water and a piece of banana at the aid station just past the 10K point, slowing just long enough to stuff it all inside. Around the 12K point the 3 or 4 people that I had been following for at least a half hour pulled ahead of me. My mind was trying to tell me that I was slowing down, so I did, running the 13th kilometer in 5:05 (8:11/M). But then I thought about my training, all the runs with the speedy dudes from my running club – I knew my body wasn’t finished, I dug deep and pressed on!

I ran the next couple kilometers under 5:00/K, but I was fighting for every second. Shortly after the 15K aid station I tall dude past slowly by, somehow this irritated me and I passed him. We ended up playing cat and mouse, which seemed to really tick him off. Somehow my dark side emerged, because every time he crept by I managed to creep by him again – and because of his height he was taking one step to my two! For a couple kilometers I forgot to even look at my watch, but I ran both the 17th and 18th kilometers in 4:50 (7:47/M).

With three kilometers to go the tall guy ran out of steam, so I concentrated on sinking my teeth into the next victim, a running chick about a minute ahead of me. My quads were starting to ache as I slowly swiped away at the gap between us. My breathing started increasing and my heart pounded, but my speed seemed to be decreasing. I decided it wasn’t worth the energy to look at my watch, so just kept going.

With one kilometer to go I finally managed to pass the running chick, as we made our way back into Hambrucken. I recognized the street, this was the street where the tornado set down, you could still see some of the massive roots from the trees that were torn out of the ground.

As I wound my way through the streets of Hambrucken I did my best to at least maintain my pace. A few runners sped by me as we rounded the last corner. With the finish line in sight I did my best to try to pick up the pace, but I just didn’t seem to have any kick left.

I still managed to catch up with one of the guy that passed me, we crossed the finish shoulder on shoulder. I was gasping for air and my quads were killing me, but I knew that I had set a new PR - but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw on my stopwatch:

1:41:45

I couldn’t believe it! I beat my old by almost 6 ½ minutes – no I blasted the old PR to bits like the tornado did to the forest in Hambrucken!

After walking around a bit to cool down and doing some stretching, I showered, picked up a cup of coffee and a piece of cake the club was selling and joined a couple guys from my running club. After sharing our race stories, we headed our separate ways, in my case home to my sweety. By the time I hit the front door I was flying on caffeine, sugar, and adrenaline so about tore the door off the hinges as I rushed into the house to retell my adventure.

I am still waiting for the official race results, but I am pretty confident that my old PR is history. How was your weekend?