Concord Distance Classic Half Marathon

Didn't get as good enough sleep as I wanted due to having to get my son somewhere by 10:30pm and then pick up and drop somewhere else at 2:30am, I wasn't going to give him my car since I need it in the morning and I also do not feel comfortable with him drive that late at night by himself since I know he will be tired. This was all revolving around After prom and sleepover.

Had the alarm set for 5:30am but finally got up at 6am, got dress wearing my Brooks Skort and under Armour top , made a peanut butter sandwich and my caffeinated energy and electrolyte mix to go. I got to the race site by 7:38am and was directed by a volunteer to a parking lot.

I went over to Value Fitness and picked up my race packet which went smoothly, the massage therapist were already there given pre-race massage but I decided to skip. I went back to the car to drop off the race packet and to take off the long sleeve top that I added on my way out of the house.

After dropping things off on the car, got back out and did Fitzgerald's Dynamic Flexibility and 1 mile warmup run, noticed a slight twinge in my right knee but everything else felt fine. Went over to Bellasano's Coffee Shop one of the wonderful businesses that opened up their restroom to us, smell of coffee and pastry was heavenly.

Got back out and watch the start of the wheelchair division which started at 8am and the 5k and HM started at the same but from 2 different locations, went off actually not too bad. The intention was to run mile 1 slow to see how the right knee feels but was surprise when the Garmin showed 8:19 pace and the volunteer at mile 1 said 8:29 but felt fine so decided to slow a bit but not too much since I know what was ahead.

Miles 1-5.5 was somewhat of a downhill except for what I consider speed bumps even though they really didn't show up on the elevation chart there are little hilly sections but not close together so they were bearable, and yes this was the easy part of the whole race.

Mile 4, wardrobe malfunction #1, I noticed 2 things at once at the start of mile 4, more breeze at my back and longer length to my skort, my brain finally click in, my skort was falling. I had my hand held water bottle, so proceeded to hold this with my teeth while I wrestle my skort back up and try to tie tighter to prevent any more expose. I really hope there is no picture.

Then the rolling hills began, I think this was more of a rolling climb because the downhills were insignificant, both my hamstrings and quad were killing me because the hills just will not let up. I know the rolling goes on till mile 8 but enough already. Took a vanilla GU at mile 5.5.

Mile 6.7, wardrobe malfunction #2, I hate to have my girls(boobs) bouncing, it drives me crazy, even drives me crazy when somebody elses bounce, so they are always locked up tight and secure. To my horror I notice a slight bounce on my right side and then a full swingy bounce, then it registered, the strap was loose or broken. So the hand held went back between my teeth and I proceed to find out if the strap was broken or just came off, this is a Nike no sew sport bra comfortable and no chafting don't even know I have it on. Well, it was broken, now what to do to keep things secure, mind you I was still running, handheld in mouth, top hike up trying to secure strap to the back loop to minimize the bounce, hopefully, no picture of this one either.

Just when you thought the hills couldn't get any worse, when you get about mile 8.5, it even shows on the elevation chart, you are on flat and notice 2 things the downhill and the steep climb ahead. This was a 0.9mile climb, the climb itself wasn't back but the previous 9 miles of up and down had taken their toil on my legs and no matter how much I willed them, they just were not moving, so I knew at the point that I wasn't going to meet my time goal, so during the climb I came up with goal 2, can I finish the climb and still run as close to goal pace for the next 3 miles at least to me that will prove that I am capable of running under 2hrs on a flat course. I was planning on taking another GU at mile 9.5 but they only have Gatorade go I skipped it but in all honesty I was sure I needed it since endurance wise I was fine.

So after the climb, shook out the legs and proceeded to get to goal pace (9:02) for each mile remaining, everyone kept on saying it's all downhill from here but I didn't feel it, I think there were only 2 sections in the whole race that felt like a downhill, the one by mile 1.5 and the also before the big climb, I was so ready to be done, saw the Sunoco gas station sign and knew it was almost over and I just have to hammer down for the last mile, I never looked at my Garmin so didn't know how fast I was running or what my time was, just wanted to be done and I felt fine.

Garmin 13.16 2:03:24 (9:23 pace)
Unofficial Official 2:03:16 (9:24 pace) posted result but they are still double checking


So based on my goal of

A: 9:02 pace (1:58:34)
B: 9:42 pace (2:07:06)
C:10:19 pace (2:15:09)

I didn't meet my A goal but surpass my B goal and considering the fact I ran this faster than my recent Hermes 10 miler (9:34) which was on a flat course I am very happy, this is also a new PR. Previous PR was 2:15:10 in Akron, so can I run under 2 hrs, I believe I can under the right conditions and with more training. Need to find a good hill close by for hill repeats, need hill training.

For a first race, it was very well organized and things went pretty smooth considering they got more runners than they were expecting especially at the last minute, the volunteers were great and the course was well marked, not that many spectators but the few that were out were very vocal and there were lots of little kids with signs and shouts of "you can do it". The road was not close to traffic but it wasn't that bad and the cops were waiting to help out at the main intersections. I will probably do this race again, something about it calls you back.

After the race walked and jogged for about a mile, got a cup of water, granola bar and Popsicle then got in line for a message, there was other stuff to eat but I skipped then and the running store also had some stuff on sale there.

Drove back, picked up the kid from sleepover then went over to IHOP for a well deserve breakfast, got home soak in cold water then helped son #2 with science project, no significant aches or pain just the usual reoccurring one.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 894 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: +17 ft Date: 05/31/09 Up/Downhill: [+853/-836] Time: 08:08 AM Difficulty: 3.7 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 13.16 miles Time: 2:03:24 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 23 /mi Heart Rate: 160 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1711 199 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 184 - 204 0h 00m 0% 0.03 mi Zone 4 163 - 184 0h 30m 24% 3.11 mi Zone 3 143 - 163 1h 45m 85% 11.40 mi Zone 2 122 - 143 0h 00m 0% 0.06 mi Zone 1 102 - 122 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0% 0.00 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 19 -1' 04 7.2 +0.8 157 0 ft 2 8' 57 -0' 26 6.7 +0.3 161 -3 ft 3 8' 56 -0' 27 6.7 +0.3 159 -49 ft 4 9' 04 -0' 19 6.6 +0.2 155 -79 ft 5 8' 52 -0' 31 6.8 +0.4 158 -92 ft 6 9' 18 -0' 05 6.5 +0.1 160 +29 ft 7 9' 42 +0' 19 6.2 -0.2 161 +59 ft 8 10' 07 +0' 44 5.9 -0.5 162 +105 ft 9 9' 50 +0' 27 6.1 -0.3 160 +46 ft 10 11' 10 +1' 47 5.4 -1.0 161 +180 ft 11 9' 04 -0' 19 6.6 +0.2 161 -52 ft 12 9' 06 -0' 17 6.6 +0.2 160 -56 ft 13 8' 57 -0' 26 6.7 +0.3 163 -62 ft end 8' 29 -0' 54 7.1 +0.7 163 -9 ft Versus average of 9' 23 min/mile

Posted from bimlog.com