Race, Race, and more racing!

It's still going on. The crazy continues. But, I think I finally hit my limit a few week-ends ago. Here was my brilliant idea... Half marathon in the morning. Bike racing in the afternoon. Hmmm.

Well, the half marathon went like this:

Who's brilliant idea was it to eat mexican food the night before a big race? Now, I don't have a nervous stomach, but occasionally there are problems (I am an athlete after all , and one of our favorite conversations is bowel movements :-). And there were problems this fine morning. But, I had no time to dwell. I swallowed some loperamide with my oatmeal and coffee and packed the car. Running bag, cycling bag, lunch, and bike. This could be awesome.

I was running the EWEB Run to Stay Warm, a half marathon almost entirely contained on the bike paths bordering the Willamette River and flat-flat-flat, at least to my Colorado/Missouri way of thinking.

My plan: run 6:52/mile, possibly speeding up to 6:45 per mile at mile 9 if I felt absolutely fantastic. This was my public goal. Private goal was to win and set a PR. Who says I don't set 'em high?

I started out at my 6:52 pace with friend, running buddy, and pace-king Gerhard. And for the first mile, we hit this pace perfectly (I think; there were no "official" mile markers on the course). And strangely I was aware that I was the first woman. Hmmm.... but that would change.

About 1.5 miles into the race, still very much in the pack, and still very much running my pace, three women swarmed around me. One, I actually recognized as a really good local marathoner and another as a major competitor that I had come up against in my other forays into the Eugene running scene. Oh-boy. This could be good. I felt great, and after all, I was in a race. I looked over at Gerhard, gave him a little half-smile and a shrug and settled in with the three women.

Me and the other women in a pack... Gerhard's in the blue shirt off to the right.

It went like this through mile 4, when I actually watched the marathoner's arms relax and her pace began to slow. It was at this moment that the competitor put on a surge, and the third woman took off with her (I had already surmised that they were running together). For a split second (more like 10 seconds), I hesitated and let them slip away. I shook myself out of my stupor, adjusted my pace (sort of, they slowed almost instantly after their surge), and stayed about 15-20 seconds behind them.

It was about this time that I caught up to "The Beeper". He was wearing a NYC marathon shirt and looked smooth, so I knew he was legit. But he was wearing a heart-rate monitor that must have been set with a max heart rate that he was exceeding. Because, every 10 seconds or so, it reminded us all with a strange bird-like chirp. At first I thought I was being stalked by a bird and kept looking into the trees along the course. At one point I spotted him trying to correct it, to no avail. For a bit, I was making it my mission to try and drop him. But he was exactly my pace, and its incessant but regular chirping was keeping me in focus.

Waving at the camera... (that's the Beeper next to me).

Around 45 minutes, I could feel my energy ebbing. I downed half a Clif shot (with caffeine, yeah!) and a few gulps of water. Ten minutes later, I was back in action. And around an hour, I surged and passed the two women in front of me. I was feeling great, and I knew that my move had worked because I heard one woman whisper to the other behind me a soft "go ahead". I willed myself not to look back, but from the footsteps, I knew I had cracked one. I made a second surge about three minutes later, and then I was alone with the beeper (he came with me... doh!). I had about three miles to go at that point (I guessed from the creek path mile markers). This whole time, I had picked up the pace to about 6:35/mile... and I kept pushing it through the next two. On the last mile, I could feel the heaviness creep in, my form start to give way, and my feet start to hit the pavement a little harder. But, I fixed my smile and muscled my way to the win. Egads.... I won! I won! I won! And it was a new personal best at 1:27:54.

Coming in for the finish, Baby!

Of course, after the finish, I felt great. And in my stubborn runner's brain, I secretly thought, I could have broken 1:27. I could have. Next time. I had a cyclocross race to get to.

To be continued....