More/Fitness Half Marathon: This Race Deserves a Recap!

Hello all! How is everyone out there? Are you loving these two days of fabulous spring weather we’ve had (well at least in NYC anyway)?

I haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been running. I’ve been logging the miles and completed two 20+ runs in preparation for the Boston Marathon a mere 15 days away. As I mentioned, the first 20 miler did not go as planned, and although we finished it, I felt like it wasn’t a great run.

My running cohort must have felt the same because about a week later she asked me if we could bump our last long run from 20 miles to 22 miles. As I’m convinced that anyone who runs marathons (myself included) has some slight masochistic tendencies to begin with, I was completely onboard with this idea although I was fully aware of the pain threshold involved.

All I will say about our 22 miler was that it felt amazing to be DONE with it. I enter different stages of pain during long runs like this and my running buddy (Lauren) has learned to ignore when “kind of mean Lindsey” arrives for a bit or “not likely to converse Lindsey” muscles her way in. But for the most, “pleasantly in pain Lindsey” was in attendance for this one. I did have one moment around mile 20 where I was tempted to throw out the idea that we just stop right there and call it a day, but I held my tongue and gutted it out. And it was all worth it in the end! I felt fantastic after we finished and didn’t even experience much residual pain.

Which brings me to what this post is really all about:

More/Fitness Magazine Half Marathon Recap
Let me just take a moment to remember this race last year. How would I describe it? One word: SOAKED!! This race happened later in the month last year and happened on one of the worst days of the spring. I finished this race and was soaked through and through.

So I was extremely pleased to see that the weather this year called for nothing but sun and cool temps. Lovely. I will admit that I did not get enough sleep the night before. Hubby and I got 127 Days on Netflix, but didn’t actually start the movie until after 10 p.m. So I didn’t get to sleep until probably 12 -12:30 a.m. Not a good way to prep or start.

But I kept things status quo in the morning and followed my usual routine. I headed out the door at 7:25. This year, when I saw that my bib number placed me in the very first corral, I walked right in, head held high. Last year I placed myself one corral back. Starting in the first corral was pretty darn cool. Mary Whittenberg actually started the race right behind me (and quickly passed me). I also passed Elizabeth Hasselbeck within the first two miles – that felt good.

Basically, this whole race felt good for me. I checked my Garmin during the first mile and was shocked to see 7:39 as my pace. I knew I needed to slow it down and I swear that I kept trying, but I also just felt good.

So I scaled back a bit, but would catch myself speeding back up. Finally I decided to just stop looking at my Garmin altogether. If it felt right, that would be the pace I would run. The first loop around went pretty fast.

Mile 1 – 7:39
Mile 2 – 7:45
Mile 3 – 7:31
Mile 4 – 7:58
Mile 5 – 8:04
Mile 6 – 7:44

The second loop began and I felt like I was slowing a bit. Cat hill was particularly rough, but then I felt a little bit better from there. And once I reached the very north portion and hit the 9 mile mark, I knew that I was way ahead of my pace for previous races.

Mile 7 – 7:47
Mile 8 – 7:56
Mile 9 – 7:48

After passing mile 9 it was up the HUGE hill for the second time and it was tough! By this point, we had caught up to the walkers who were on their first lap and this made things a little confusing. The walkers (and let me say that I fully support walkers in races and think it’s wonderful that they are out there) took up a MAJOR part of the course. The typical “stay close to the inside” rule that runners try to follow does not seem to apply to walkers. They were meandering all over the place and forget about trying to get to water stations while they are there. Thankfully, I had taken water at mile 6 and 8, so I felt okay, but I watched as other runners tried to work their way to the water stations unsuccessfully as the walkers crowded the area.

As I reached Mile 12, I was so happy to see that some of the volunteers had taken water and gone to the outside lane to try to help the runners who couldn’t make it inside because of the walkers. I gladly grabbed a water and continued on to finish things up.

The last mile stretched on and probably because I had run so much extra mileage as the runners were pushed to the outside because of the walkers. I pushed as hard as possible for the last few miles.

10 – 7:57
11 – 8:05
12 – 7:44
13 – 7:34
.28 – 1:57

Total – 13.28 miles in 1:43:34. According to Garmin, my average pace was 7:47 minute miles!

And I finished and actually felt good. I was smiling, thanking people, accepted my medal, ate and drank, and then headed home. It was an awesome race and a new PR for me. I ran it last year in 1:46:00.

The bad news was that I came home to find a gigantic blister on my toe. I could feel it growing as I was running, but it was a complete mess. I actually think there is a blister on top of a blister. Yuck. I know. My poor baby toe looks atrocious.

So any advice on blisters out there? I plan to make a trip to Jack Rabbit this week to get some no-blister socks and mole skin. I already have Glide, which I will be applying next run. Anything else?

That’s all folks! I promise I’m going to try to post a bit more between now and Boston to capture some of the tips I’ve learned about prepping for Boston, as well as to catalogue my travels to Boston and experiences in the city. 15 Days!!