Brian and I recently went on a trip to Austin. The primary reason for this trip was so that Brian could attend a symposium that the UT Biomedical Engineering Department was hosting to honor Brian's Ph.D. thesis adviser, A.J. Welch. A.J. had finally decided to retire and because he was such a pioneer in the field of optics in medicine and largely responsible for the presence of a Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Texas, the Department wanted to honor him.
Now Brian hasn't been to Austin in quite a while so we decided that we would make a longer trip than attending the symposium required. That way we'd have a chance to visit with people and do some fun things. I had also decided that I was going to purchase a new bike while we were in town so I wanted to make sure we were there long enough to make that happen. We were in town from Thursday to the following Tuesday and it was a very good trip. We stayed with Joey, Rachel, and Jordan as usual, and as usual they were awesome hosts. Unfortunately, Rachel wasn't feeling good during our visit, but she still managed to do some fun things with us.
The timing of the trip happened to coincide with the 3M half-marathon so I decided to run it. 3M was my first ever half-marathon back in 2003, and it is an excellent race, but I haven't run it in quite a while . The course is primarily downhill, runs right through the middle of Austin, and has lots of spectators. My time from that race was my half-marathon PR at 2:08:03.80. That's right - my best half-marathon time was my first half-marathon. Now in all fairness to me, before this year I'd only run 3 half-marathons and two were done with injuries/health issues so I had no time expectations. This year was going to be different. I decided after the New York Marathon that I shouldn't have any problem setting a PR in a half-marathon and set about to make that happen. I decided to train to finish the half in 1:59. I know I've got a sub 2 hour half in me and I figured that even if I didn't get there this year, it certainly didn't hurt my running to train that way.
Some time around Christmas, I started getting nervous about the race. It was a little over a month away at that point, and my running had been feeling sluggish. I was doing all my workouts at the right paces, but my legs were not loving the pounding - probably too much running on the concrete, and maybe some delayed fatigue from New York. I decided to ask Joey if he would be willing to pace me for at least part of the race. Joey is faster than me, but he wasn't training to run this race so I thought he might not mind running slower than he is capable. He said he would be happy to run it with me, but had considered doing the relay so he would let me know. I was really relieved when he told me that he was going to run the entire race with me. Wohoo! Not only was I going to set a new PR but I was going to get to run a race with my best friend. I was still nervous, but now I was really excited, too.
I had discussed what pace to run both with my coach, Brandon, and with Joey, and had decided based on the humidity and how I had felt during my last few long runs, that breaking two hours was going to be extremely difficult. I had been having breathing problems and hadn't yet figured out that I was getting hit with high pine pollen AND high mold. It was 86% humidity at the start of the race, and I knew breaking 2 hours wasn't going to happen. I told Joey that I wanted to start out at a 9:30 min mile pace and just see how things progressed.
We were a little bit disorganized getting to the race - we had a hard time finding the clothing drop and the bathrooms. I decided to forgo the bathroom because I didn't want to miss the start. I did not realize how much this race had grown since I ran it last. It took me and Joey 6 minutes to cross the start so I would've had plenty of time to pee. Oh well! I could always stop on the course if I really needed to.
The morning was chilly, but not unbearably so, and once we got underway we warmed up nicely. The humidity was unpleasant because it made everything feel clammy. The first mile was a little slow, but then we got to a 9:30 min mile and stayed right around there for the next 8 miles. I was having some breathing difficulties which meant I wasn't a very talkative running companion, but Joey was right there with me the whole way. Occasionally, he would dash away to say hi to someone he knew, but he always came back, and it made me smile to see him having a good time. After all, if you aren't running a race with a specific time goal then you should be having fun. Somewhere around the halfway point, I saw Brandon. He said he was going to be out cheering, since he had several athletes running, but he wasn't sure where along the course he would be. He gave me a Joey a big cheer, and I smiled and waved.
Humidity and breathing issues aside, I felt really good during the race , and am really pleased with the outcome. Around mile 10, Joey really started to push the pace. Somewhere along the way, he had gotten it in his head that we needed to break 2:05 - for all I know, I could have mentioned it at some point, who knows. Plus I think he knew I had more in the tank. He kept pushing the pace and encouraging me. He was definitely in full-blown coaching mode. There were a couple of times when he was running just ahead of me and encouraging me to pick up the pace, and I thought "If I could catch you, I would beat you." Of course I wouldn't really, and I know that he would only push me until I said I couldn't do anymore. I was breathing pretty hard, and getting darn close to puking when we crossed the finish line in 2:03:47. Wohoo! I have to give Joey a lot of credit for that time. I would have definitely set a PR if I was running by myself, but there is no way I would have pushed the last 3 miles as hard as I did on my own considering how I was feeling. Thanks Joey! You are a truly awesome friend!
Some time around Christmas, I started getting nervous about the race. It was a little over a month away at that point, and my running had been feeling sluggish. I was doing all my workouts at the right paces, but my legs were not loving the pounding - probably too much running on the concrete, and maybe some delayed fatigue from New York. I decided to ask Joey if he would be willing to pace me for at least part of the race. Joey is faster than me, but he wasn't training to run this race so I thought he might not mind running slower than he is capable. He said he would be happy to run it with me, but had considered doing the relay so he would let me know. I was really relieved when he told me that he was going to run the entire race with me. Wohoo! Not only was I going to set a new PR but I was going to get to run a race with my best friend. I was still nervous, but now I was really excited, too.
I had discussed what pace to run both with my coach, Brandon, and with Joey, and had decided based on the humidity and how I had felt during my last few long runs, that breaking two hours was going to be extremely difficult. I had been having breathing problems and hadn't yet figured out that I was getting hit with high pine pollen AND high mold. It was 86% humidity at the start of the race, and I knew breaking 2 hours wasn't going to happen. I told Joey that I wanted to start out at a 9:30 min mile pace and just see how things progressed.
We were a little bit disorganized getting to the race - we had a hard time finding the clothing drop and the bathrooms. I decided to forgo the bathroom because I didn't want to miss the start. I did not realize how much this race had grown since I ran it last. It took me and Joey 6 minutes to cross the start so I would've had plenty of time to pee. Oh well! I could always stop on the course if I really needed to.
The morning was chilly, but not unbearably so, and once we got underway we warmed up nicely. The humidity was unpleasant because it made everything feel clammy. The first mile was a little slow, but then we got to a 9:30 min mile and stayed right around there for the next 8 miles. I was having some breathing difficulties which meant I wasn't a very talkative running companion, but Joey was right there with me the whole way. Occasionally, he would dash away to say hi to someone he knew, but he always came back, and it made me smile to see him having a good time. After all, if you aren't running a race with a specific time goal then you should be having fun. Somewhere around the halfway point, I saw Brandon. He said he was going to be out cheering, since he had several athletes running, but he wasn't sure where along the course he would be. He gave me a Joey a big cheer, and I smiled and waved.
Humidity and breathing issues aside, I felt really good during the race , and am really pleased with the outcome. Around mile 10, Joey really started to push the pace. Somewhere along the way, he had gotten it in his head that we needed to break 2:05 - for all I know, I could have mentioned it at some point, who knows. Plus I think he knew I had more in the tank. He kept pushing the pace and encouraging me. He was definitely in full-blown coaching mode. There were a couple of times when he was running just ahead of me and encouraging me to pick up the pace, and I thought "If I could catch you, I would beat you." Of course I wouldn't really, and I know that he would only push me until I said I couldn't do anymore. I was breathing pretty hard, and getting darn close to puking when we crossed the finish line in 2:03:47. Wohoo! I have to give Joey a lot of credit for that time. I would have definitely set a PR if I was running by myself, but there is no way I would have pushed the last 3 miles as hard as I did on my own considering how I was feeling. Thanks Joey! You are a truly awesome friend!
Here are our splits from the race: 9:51, 9:33, 9:37, 9:32, 9:29, 9:29, 9:33, 9:32, 9:28, 9:26, 9:11, 9:05, 9:08, 0:52 Total time 2:03:47
One other thing - I've had three major PRs since I started working with my coach back in July. Thanks, Brandon!
One other thing - I've had three major PRs since I started working with my coach back in July. Thanks, Brandon!
2 comments:
Next year we are going for 1:55.
Actually, I was thinking that we should shoot for 1:50 next year. I know you can do that and I'm pretty sure I've got it in me. I want a short-term goal post-Ironman to keep me motivated and I think we've found it. :-)
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