On October 25th, I ran the Michelob Ultra Half Marathon. The course is relatively flat with a portion of the route on the Katy Trail. I started out where I wanted with my pace just below 9:00/mi. I was running with another runner who I had been training with the last several weeks. I started having trouble with my left foot falling asleep. I was concerned with not being able to "feel" things and so I pulled back a little but was still maintaining a pace I felt could get me under two hours.
About the time I reached the end of the Katy Trail my right shoulder was really hurting. It forced me to walk for stretches in order to stretch it out. I don't know if I was tensed up for some reason or if I over-worked my arms in one of my cross-training boot-camps. I finished with a time of 2:01:28. Rats, I just missed my goal time of finishing under two hours. I felt pretty disappointed and felt I had a "bad race" despite blowing away my previous best time of 2:18:38. However I knew I had a chance at redemption as I was running the DRC Half Marathon in a week.
So I rested. I slept in all week while I skipped my speed classes. I was trying to rest my legs as much as possible so that I could push hard in a race I know the course.
I love running the DRC Half Marathon. It is the first half marathon I ever ran. It's my Super Bowl. The course is beautiful and relatively flat. The weather the past two years has been very nice with temps in the 50s.
I started out with the 2:00 pace group but after just a mile or two I decided to pull ahead so that I give myself some buffer in case I run out of juice towards the end of the race. I am running my best race ever with a consistent sub-9:00/mile pace until I get to around mile 8.5. I develop this nasty cramp in my abs/stomache and it causes me to not be able to draw in a full breath (plus it hurt pretty bad). I started to slow down.
Somewhere past mile 10 the 2:00 pace group passed by me and my hopes for finishing within my goal time was dashed. At this point my legs were really achy and sore. I flashed back to how I felt in my marathon training as this was the type of fatigue pain after running 13 miles. I generally felt like this somewhere around mile 15 or 16. I continued to press on though and would walk when I felt like I needed a small break.
I finished with a time of 2:06:40. In the grand scheme of things, I took 12 minutes off my time from the last time I ran the same race. I also have never ran races in back to back weekends like that. I might do a couple things differently the next I try something like this.
This next week I am taking a week long training course to become certified Personal Trainer. I will go from being the motivated to being the motivator. What will be interesting is how I can tie getting certified as a coach with next year's goals. I'll wait and see how the class goes and think about what I want to accomplish for 2015.
I'm also keeping an eye on the RRCA website for upcoming Running Coach certification classes. I want running to be my focus for my Personal Training experience.
Speaking of 2015, I have updated my races page with races I am planning to run or have already signed up to run. I am going to run fewer races next year but more of them will be out of town races. I may still sign up for the Fayetteville Half Marathon in December 2015 in Fayetteville, AR rather than run in the Dallas Marathon. I haven't made up my mind on that yet.
