Amica Seattle Half Marathon: On giving it your all (Part 1)

I don't know what I was expecting from this race.  I always secretly "want" a PR.  On some days, I go into races and all I want to do is fight to the finish.  But sometimes, on other days, I know that my heart and soul aren't quite into it.  Walking into race day on Sunday, I wasn't quite sure where my heart and soul stood.  

A little over a month ago, I had an amazing feeling PR at the Nike Women's Half.  And part of the reason it felt so amazing was because it wasn't expected.  I had convinced myself on the day before the race to follow my original plan of NOT hoping for a PR.  Instead, I took each hill as it came and simply focused on getting to the top of it.  And then getting to the top of the next one.  And then a PR happened.  And it surprised the hell out of me.  Best surprise ever.

But with this race, I didn't know what to think.  I felt a little resigned.  And to be honest, if I could pick a theme word for the past month of my life, "resigned" would be it.  Resigned to the fact that I've had a cold/cough "thing" for a month that seems to fade in fits and bursts and then reappear.  Resigned to the stress at work.  Resigned to the not-so-great-feeling runs.  Resigned to the number of minor (or perhaps major) catastrophes that are taking place in my apartment right now (seriously, thank goodness for great apartment managers).  Resigned to spending money on things that aren't at the top of my list right now--a puppy ear infection vet visit, a new dresser (see previously mentioned sentence re: apartment catastrophes).  Just generally resigned to life.  Not to say that I'm unhappy--just, like I the theme word implies, resigned.

Then of course, I couldn't help but think about my performance in this race last year (side note mini celebration: I've been writing long enough to refer to a race recap I wrote last year! Resigned is not how I'd describe the feeling which that evokes).  This race was tough for me last year.  It was a mental battle and a challenge in every respect.  It was the first time I ran a half marathon in under 2 hours.  27 seconds under 2 hours, to be exact.  And remembering that battle from last year made me a little nervous for this year.

So, let's maybe call it what it is.  I was scared about this race.  And I did everything I could over my long holiday weekend to jam pack my time and avoid thinking about the race.  Wednesday after an early-release day at work and a turkey trot with my teacher running club, I went to see the new Wildlights at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Pretty fun.  Glad I visited before it got too cold out.

Thursday, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the people I consider to be my west coast family (Sierra and her family).  Friday, I celebrated Apple Cup and did a little fundraising in the process.  Saturday, I headed to Team in Training practice and put in 5 pre-race miles (for Goofy Challenge training, it's good for me to run a race on fairly tired legs), then frantically cleaned my apartment for 2 hours (again, see previous paragraph re: apartment catastrophes), and then went and put in 3.5 volunteer hours at the TNT booth at the race Expo.  

Look at us, TNT promoters.  I got to see a few people I haven't seen lately
while talking up a great cause.

And then, after a carb-load dinner with Erica where we made a very loose race plan (start at 8:50 pace, although Erica was pushing for 8:40), I went home and tried my best to fall asleep without thinking about the race.

Race morning, I woke up to a scratchy throat (again, surprise!) and took some ibuprofen to ward that off for a few hours.  Isn't there some sort of rule about not taking ibuprofen on race day?  I don't remember...oh well.  I didn't die.  And I didn't really care at the time--I just didn't want that awful scratchy-throat-can't-breathe feeling I've had for the past few weeks of runs to haunt me throughout the race. I wanted to be able to focus on battling just the normal running pains this race, not any extras.

I also decided last minute to change up my typical fueling plan.  I DO NOT recommend this to anyone who has not done this distance race few times.  One of the top tips that coaches always tell you is don't change ANYTHING on race day.  And it is great advice that I always heed on race days.  But this was my 7th half, and I thought maybe it was time to try something new.  And I didn't change anything too drastic.  I usually take a GU every 45 minutes and only put Nuun in my water belt.  I decided to decrease the amount of time between GUs (every 35 minutes) and put some Ironman sports drink mix into my water belt, along with some Nuun.  My past few races, I felt like I hit my wall around miles 11-12, and I wanted to see if fueling with a few more calories a little earlier on could stave that off.  

And so, Erica, Ironman Jason, and I headed down to the race, parked on a nearby side street (surprisingly easily), and then headed to the TNT booth at the finish line to hang out inside a warm building until the start.  One of the great parts of this typically cold and rainy Seattle race is that the finish line is inside a large building at Seattle Center.  Knowing typical Seattle weather, this is key for the time of year of this race.  There were also indoor, flushing toilet bathrooms here.  Way better than the typical race start port-a-potties.  Although, let me tell you (however unpleasant this is), that a pre-race public bathroom is a no-holds-barred situation.  It's all got to come out in there or else it will on the course.  And it results in a hold-your-breath-don't-listen-and-just-deal-with-it type of public situation.  Port-a-potties disguise this a little better.

Then we walked to the start line and started pushing our way through crowds to get to the faster paces at the front.  This seemed really poorly designed to me this year--the only way to get to the front was to push through from the back.  The barricades allowed no entrances from the side.  Seemed a little silly.  We ended up starting just behind the 2:15 pacer, resigned (yep, that's intentional word choice there) to the fact that we'd have to do some weaving and bobbing to get through the crowds after the start.

Me, Erica, Ironman Jason, and Ironman Joe (remember them from this summer?) all started together.  When we crossed the start line, Jason took off with an ambitious PR in his sights.  Joe, who was battling a not so great sounding chest cold kept pace with Erica a I for a bit.

And so, a mile into the race, after weaving through crowds that forced us into 9:00 first mile, I was resigned to whatever this race had in store for me and whatever my body decided it was going to do that day.

And, as is typically the case, this race surprised me in ways I never expected.

But you'll just have to wait and see how :)