Providence Rock n Roll Half Marathon RP

In case you loath race reports and would rather not read every gory detail, I ran 1:25:55. That's about as short as it gets...

Oh you want some boring gory details? Thank you for humoring me. Thinking that someone might be interested in reading every aspect of my race saves my co-workers from having to listen to me talk about it, so they thank you too.

Pre-race week:

The week leading up to the race was fine, I guess. Everyone in the house has been sick, but not with anything serious. Just a typical start of school year virus. Still, it had made us all cranky and tired. It seemed every night just as I would fall asleep one of the kids would need me for something, and knowing that I had a race  AND that it was suppose to be a peak mileage week all this not sleeping irritated me. That's all fairly typical in my house though. Fall racing seems steeped in viruses...

Race morning:

I woke up at 4:00 am to drive myself to the race. I was really beginning to question how well I could possibly do. Usually I mentally prepare for races. I study the course. I usually taper. I think about the race and my goals. I didn't do any of that. I didn't even really know what I could expect to run with no taper. I was hoping that I could run 1:26:30, which wouldn't be a PR, but was what the race calculator predicted based on my last 5K time. I wound up at the race way too early, but managed to pass the time by sitting in a hotel lobby and visiting the bathroom every 10 minutes. Good times.

The start:

I moseyed on into my corral about 15 minutes prior to the start time, and found a fellow running buddy, Robin. The start was killing me. As 7:00 approached, the announcer states it will be a few more minutes. Then a few more minutes. They were killing me. Once I'm on the start line my race anxiety is at its peak, and doesn't start to dissipate until the race actually starts. I think it was only about 10 minutes late, but it felt like a long 10 minutes.

The Race: 

I don't know, the whole race was sort of a blur. I was the third place female for about 4-5 miles, then another lady passed me, and there was no fight in me to try to stick with her. My legs were just tired. Every time I ran up a hill my legs were burning. I managed to keep it at an average of 6:27 pace for the first 6 - 7 miles, but at some point after that I started slowing down. At the 10 mile mark I was at an average of 6:31 pace (according to the race clock), and then I knew I'd really like to break 1:26, but simply wasn't sure if I could manage not to slow down too much more. Around here another lady passed me. Again, I didn't even care. I also had a splitting headache, and mostly wanted to be finished, but there was still this tiny bit of hope that maybe just maybe I could break 1:26. The last 2.1 miles I was really making an effort. I was starting to catch up to that lady, but that wasn't my goal. At the 13 mile mark, there was a clock, and it read 1:25:10. There was also a hill. I knew if I could haul myself up that hill there was still a chance that I might break 1:26...and I did. 

Post Race:

I was super happy with my time. I PR'd. Only by four seconds, but a PR is a PR, right? There are few other reasons that I'm please with the outcome. For one, I hadn't tapered, and that does make a difference. My legs were definitely tired, and I had trouble mentally. For another, the course wasn't super fast. I don't think it was extremely challenging, but my marathon in three weeks is on a flatter course. And lastly, this is the first time I've ever run a half marathon faster than my last 5K predicted I would run. I'm generally a better at the 5K than half or full marathons...