Race Report: Publix Half Marathon

Previous PR: 1:58:17 (Thanksgiving 2016)

Goal: fun run

Result: PR- 1:56:02

Pre-Race

By the time I hopped into B’s car to ride down to the race, I still had no idea what I was going to wear to run. Our four combined weather apps all had temps around 41, with 8mph winds. This is right on my thermal break, especially when combined with the fact that I wasn’t planning on racing. I know that you're supposed to be cold at the start of a race. If you're not cold for the first mile, you're overdressed. I ended up dressing myself in capris, a short-sleeve shirt, and arm sleeves, bringing shorts, a singlet, gloves, and a earband to add/subtract as necessary, and wearing a throwaway recovery jacket on both my top and bottom halves for pre-race wanderings.

The best thing about races is the pre/post-race social time. We had an enjoyable reunion with some of our in-training friends at the track club tent, but didn't end up meeting up with any of the people we'd wanted to start the race with. Fortunately, we'd had a back-up plan: "meet at the front of Corral C". That was NOT a good plan. The corrals were HUGE, and most of our group is pretty short. Next time, we need to say "meet in the front left (or right) corner". 

Against most odds, we DID meet up with Birgit, Shelly, and Mark before the gun went off, though. :) So glad to see them!


Miles 1-4
Brandi planned to run with Birgit no matter what. I planned on running "easy" no matter what, at least for the first 8-9 miles, and then I wanted to try to push a bit for the last 5K. Shelly and Mark had no real pace goals, but were going to run whatever they felt. Within the first mile, B&B were ahead of the 2:00 half/4:00 full pace groups, and I had zero interest in sticking with them. I called a "good luck, see you at the finish" and settled in for a more comfortable pace. Fortunately, Shelly and Mark were closer to that pace, so I had some good company. 

There's a pretty good incline from 2.5 to 4, but it felt easy. This was a sign of awesome things to come. 


Miles 5-9
While I felt GREAT going through the first few miles of hills, it was rough when the mob of 2:00/4:00 we were caught in would ebb on the uphills. Shelly and I decided we needed to get ahead of them, and I made a break for it on the next downhill. While my gallop stride took me ahead of her, she quickly caught up. After about a mile, she passed me, and I didn't try to keep up. This wasn't a race; it was a fun run.

Mile 6: The Vortex is an iconic Atlanta burger joint. It smelled SO GOOD, even at 8am.

I had no idea what my pace was at this point. I wasn't looking at my watch, but had started checking the timing signs at each mile. I'd started six minutes later than the gun, so it was starting to become fun to see how far off of a 10:00 (because easy math) gun pace I was. I remember being +2:00 at one point, +1:00 at another, and wondering exactly how fast I was going, because I was definitely gaining time... a LOT of time.

At mile 7, I knew the hills were coming. I'd started checking my splits at each mile beep and realized I was going WAY faster (mid-8s) than I'd thought (low-9s) and WAY faster than I'd planned (mid-9s). I started wondering if I'd exhausted myself too much and if I'd have much left in me to actually push the hills when they started coming hard after mile 8.

Mile 9-12

"It's all uphill from here"

I wish I'd looked closer at the elevation profile before the race. All I knew was that the last 5K was pretty gnarly, and encompassed the worst of midtown running: 10th Street, Juniper, and some pretty bogus hill within Georgia Tech's campus that I never see coming. To my surprise, 10th Street was the only one of those that felt hard. As soon as I exited the park, I felt myself slow. I didn't know what pace I was going, but it felt slog-tastically slow. I considered walking for a minute, and then I saw something that shook that thought right out of my head:

On the ground in front of me was my shadow, and the shadow of a pace flag behind me. The only pace flag that could possibly be was the 2:00 group.

HOW THE HECK WERE THEY RIGHT BEHIND ME?!?!

All thoughts of "I don't have a goal" and "this is just a fun run" and "I'll walk if I want to because I don't care about my time" flew out of my head the second I thought about being the only one in our group to finish over 2:00. I'm faster that I used to be, and, honestly, I feel a LOT of pressure to be able to easily break 2:00... or at least not get passed by the pacer going up a hill when my only goal for the race had been to push up the last 5K's worth of hills. 

I considered, for a moment, just hanging out with the pace team 'til the end and letting them bring me in. After all, hadn't I told Jerry I'd be behind the 2:00 pace team for sure, and that I was planning a 2:05ish finish? Then again, I know myself and my pacing. If I were to fall in with them, the rest of the race would seem like work. Work to maintain pace. Work to stay with them. I'd rather push myself than have someone running with me.

I dug in and cranked up that hill, and then up Juniper (another nemesis for most of the Atlanta running community). The shadow of the flag was nowhere in sight. Phew. I relaxed for a minute, and then saw a red singlet over my shoulder.

THE PACER WAS RIGHT NEXT TO ME!?!?! WHAT. THE. WHAT.

I motored up and across on fifth, telling myself the pacer HAD to be way head of target. I mean, I knew I'd slowed up a little, but I couldn't have been THAT far behind, right? Right?

Spoiler Alert: They were DEFINITELY ahead of pace.

I continued along at a comfortable, yet strong and quick, pace for the next few miles, counting them down. I decided when I hit mile 12, I'd gun it and see how fast I could do that final mile in, hoping it wasn't too uphill.

The Last Mile

Mile 12 came QUICK. I picked up the pace, and thought of how awesome it was going to be to see Jerry and baby boy standing on the sidelines, cheering me on at the 12.5ish mile point. Even since before I was pregnant, I've loved the idea of having my child on the sidelines of a race with a poster for me. Today was finally the day that was going to happen, and I wanted to look strong as I went by him. That wouldn't be a problem. I was feeling AWESOME.  

I saw Shelly in the distance. Whoa. I must have made up a LOT of time. I tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up before continuing on. 

A little later, I heard a familiar voice say, "Go, Angelina". I turned over my shoulder and was shocked to see B&B. I definitely made up a lot of time. 

A quick check of my watch confirmed that, no matter what, I was going to PR the course. Cool. This wasn't my race though, and, weird as it might sound, I didn't care about my time in that moment. 

I slowed up and crossed over to my running buddies, chatted a bit, and then realized that, if I wanted to cross the finish line with them, I had plenty of time to stop and see my baby. I told them I'd catch them again before the finish line, but wanted to run ahead and see my potato.

The potato, unfortunately, was a bit further away than I'd thought, and I ended up running by myself for a lot longer than I'd planned. I started worrying if I was TOO far ahead of pace and if Jerry and baby boy would even be out there when I passed. Fortunately, they were. I stopped off to the side, and spent what felt like awhile with them. Jerry was definitely confused that I had stopped and was reaching to hug baby boy. "Go!" he said. 

"Gonna wait for B&B," I told him, giving baby boy a hug. That may not have been the best call, because I had to give him back to Jerry when B&B came through, and he may or may not have cried for the next few minutes because I "left him". :(

"Mommy, I want to run like you when I grow up!"
D'awwwwwwwwwwww

The last quarter mile was wonderful. There's something magical about getting to cross the finish line with your training buddies, and having enough stamina to talk the whole time, cheering them on, especially when one of them was going to CRUSH her goal... at not even six months postpartum. :)

It's not quite as good as Braves, but still love this pic <3 

#10KTuesday representing

Partial 10KTuesday + Partial Running Mamas

Reflections

• Having such an awesome half and seeing people running a full makes me want to do another one. :P (maaaaaybe I should just try racing a half first, though) 
• I have a half marathon whose pace begins with an 8.This is a first <3 
• I negative split Publix. This race strategy is totally my jam. I love love love starting off easy and speeding up, no matter the course. It just works for me. Kind of cool that B&B just paced evenly and we all ended up at the finish together. :) 
• I stopped for about a minute to hang out with baby boy, and had more in me at the finish. If I can get over my mental block of having to try/focus for ~2 hours, I should really race a half marathon sometime and see what I can do. Maybe I'm not as far behind the rest of the group in a distance race as a I think I am. 
• I got to cross the line with two of my best friends. This was so powerful. It reminded me of when people did that for me at Braves, Singleton, and Hearts and Soles, and when I got to do it for pregnant Birgit at last year's Peachtree. Running isn't just about time, it's about sharing experiences with others, and celebrating victories together, especially when they're not your own. 

One "stuck behind people and can't move"
Two "waterbottle refills"
and
One "hi, sweet baby boy, how are you?"

dem hills, tho

...and I felt like I could have easily gone faster that last mile

Bonus
Baby Boy did his SECOND 50m dash after my race and nailed it! 
So so so so so amazing to get to share this running thing with him and Jerry. 

Mommy & Me: Medals