jpn running : 2015 Phoenix Half Marathon (and February Done!)

When people ask me what my goals are for running, I tell them without hesitation that in 2015, my goal is a) qualify for the 2016 Boston Marathon and b) run a sub 1:30 half and (only half jokingly) c) PR everything.

The origin of my 1:30 half marathon goal goes back to a dinner I shared in the South End with my friend Ricky in late-April 2013, two days after the he ran his first Boston marathon. This was also his first ever marathon, and I remember asking him if he thought he would run more marathons? At the time, I was still very out of shape, and had not made much effort during the winter months of 2013 towards improving my physical health. So, I honestly didn't know what to make of his response when he said that he thought he would focus more on half marathons, and that he thought he could probably get down to under 1:30. I was impressed, and jealous. At the time, I couldn't have told you what pace that amounted to, but I knew my one and only half marathon race, run 2 years earlier in the fall of 2011, had come in at 2:03, which was at nearly 9.5 min miles, and I wasn't in any better shape at that moment in 2013.

Since then, the half marathon has been my barometer. 6 months after that dinner with Ricky--6 months of gradually increasing my weekly mileage and some weight loss--I was pleased with myself to run the Baltimore half in under 8 min miles (1:43.) By February of 2014, near the beginning of my Boston 2014 training, and not quite a year into my "comeback," I ran the SF half 1:36 and followed that up shortly after with a 1:35 at Ashland. Both those efforts left me tapped out of energy for a 7-10 days afterwards though. Following Boston, I put my best effort into the Brooklyn half and dropped my PR to 1:32, a pace of 7:02. The half marathon has been my training buddy over the past 2 years. Some have ended well (I KICKED at Ashland) and some have been a struggle (a windy SF, but more likely due to having norovirus earlier that week.) But, I've been pleased and fortunate to set a PR at each half I've run to date.

Coming into the Phoenix half, I was not riding high. The winter here, and poor performance in my long run the weekend prior left me with legitimate doubt about hitting a 6:50 pace for a sub 1:30. I thought I would have a good chance at a PR due to my lower weight, additional 8 months of training since Brooklyn, as well as the downhill course. But my confidence was waning...I was questioning the mid to high 7 min/mile paces I had been trying to train at for the last month, wondering if my body was perhaps more suited to training in the low 8's.

The morning of the race, there was a surprising (ha, not really) lack of interest from certain members of my family in a 5am wake-up call to go watch me run in the dark! My father was game though! It was a 45 minute drive from our hotel to the starting line, which was east of the finish line in Mesa. He dropped me off about a mile from the start with about 45 minutes to spare. Perfect timing. My first warmup mile was a jog...nearly 10 min mile pace. My second warmup mile a touch faster, closer to an 8 min mile. I was feeling a little tense and a little sluggish. I checked out the starting line and witnessed a few thousand people who actually appeared to be cold in the pre-dawn 57 degree weather...they were huddled around propane heat lamps, wearing excessive amounts of throw-away clothes, with a number of them wearing the heat blankets that they hand out post-marathon in early spring and late fall. I had brought a throw-away NB tshirt over my FHR singlet, and some old Sport Hill cloth tights I haven't worn in 15 years. I did my drills, I did my strides, I found a nice desert spot to relieve myself out past the lines of people waiting at the port-o-potties, a spot where I could drop my t-shirt and pants (I would return later that afternoon after a round of golf to recollect them) and then I did my leg swings, and moved to the starting line, slotting in between 1:30 pace group and the 1:35 pace group. A few minutes before the start, I downed my first powergel and finished the bottle of water I had brought with me. I listened to the conversations around me...the guy who is 3 states away from running marathons in 50 states....the girl running her first half and hoping to hang with the 1:45 group. I love the awkward friendliness of the pre-race starting corrals. I felt prepared and relaxed.

Then we go.

It was a small enough race, and I was close enough to the front that I was only 15 seconds off the gun time and immediately I was able to move into my target pace, which, for the first mile was to be a shade under 7.

After that, my plan was just to run comfortably hard for as long as I can. Here's how it went

The gradual elevation loss certainly is evident in my pace. There was very little wind, but when I did have a headwind, it was for most of miles 8-10.

The half marathon course is the last half of the full marathon course, so there was plenty of aid stations for us, including a powergel stop. I carried a powergel with me from the start and took that just before the mile 6 aid station, where I could consume it with water (never gu with gatorade...too much sugar) and then grabbed another gu handout at that point. I took that Gu before the mile 10 aid station. So, in total I took 3 gels: pre-race, mile 6 and mile 10. I more or less alternated water and gatorade at the stations, but I wasn't really worried about dehydration. The temps were perfect and the sun wasn't even up until 7 or so. That timing of nutrition worked well for me.

I was moving well enough in miles 2-5 that I had my sights on the 1:30 group, which was always a quarter of a mile ahead of me even though I was running low 6:40 miles! Soon, the only people I had left to pass were the folks being dropped from the 1:30 group. I felt bad for them...their pacer was moving 10 seconds a mile too fast! I never did catch them, and overheard the pacer at the finish line say they finished at 1:28. At around the 10k pt, a small older guy caught up to me, and as in past races, this was a nice wakeup call for me...that and the second Gu was about to kick in. I leaned forward and hung with him, that worked well for us (and another young guy) for the next 2-3 miles, but then the older guy slowed up significantly, and while I also slowed a bit with the wind and lack of decline, the younger guy (I think he was wearing basketball shorts?) moved away from me. So, for a long while, I was sort of out there by myself. Then I was passed towards the end by two guys who were running separately, but must have gotten a late start, because they were moving at low 6 pace and looked great out there. I got a kick out of the second of the two. He was well over 6 feet tall and was really striding, but he would say to every person he passed (including folks walking the 10k that had started at the same time as our race, 6.2 miles from the same finish line) "good job, looking good." That guy had a great attitude, and I was happy have him pass me out there.

After drifting up towards 7 min miles, I was getting a little concerned about my overall pace, which had moved back to high 6:40 range. Every mile that I had put down at 6:40, I knew was a 10-12 second cushion against a 1:30 time, but the 7's were becoming a trend and I was knew I had to dig for the last few miles if I was going to keep it below 6:52. The last Gu kicked in around mile 11, and with that low 6:50 split I knew at that point I had enough left in me to hold my time below 1:30. At that point in the race (and I felt this with Philly too) I had a mile or two to look forward to my goal. It gave me strength to kick at the finish. The shout-out to Boston and to my winter beard from the guy on the PA to the crowd lining the finish was welcome also!

I was braking at this point, so that doesn't count as a heal strike! :)

The feeling of coming down that shoot, looking up at a gun time that was still in the 1:29's, knowing that I was 30 or so seconds below my goal, was a moment (or maybe a minute or two, when you take into account the smile on my face) of great satisfaction for me. See what I'm talking about?

post-race can be a goofy time.

Anyway, post race I put in a lazy mile cool-down. Downed a cocowater, banana, cliff bar, bagel sandwhich and coffee from Einsteins, and then enjoyed a chocolate milk back in the hotel room. I had a few hours to unwind, and then it was back to Mesa for a GREAT round of golf at Las Sendas. Post golf, back to the hotel for a soak and then out to dinner with the family for a burrito and beer dinner.

It was a great day!

And upon returning to Boston, it was March.

So here's the Garmin-to-date graph with February updated.