Half marathon this morning started out with meeting my 3 friends at Alewife–nice and early at 9 am. We traveled down to Harwich, and met up with Annie, Shane, and Melissa–everyone was part of Davis Square Runners–well Melissa wasn’t, but she was by the end of our day.
The day started off cool, a little smidgen of rain, otherwise just cloudy. Got our bibs, and some pre-run food–coffee and a Larabar for me. Stretched a bit, no warm-up run. I never do a warm-up run, it has never done me any use.
Annie and I recognized, sort of, the start area from Ragnar Cape Cod this past year. The Harwich Community Center was one of our transition areas.
We lined up at the start line at 10 minutes before noon, with the 700 other runners, wished everyone a good race, and we were soon off!
The start wasn’t as bad as some of the larger races can be. The mass of runners spread out fairly quickly, meaning that one could easily get around slower people. Some races are so large, that the first two miles are just aggravating trying to get past all the 11 min milers who lined up at the 9 min line.
I skipped the first 2 water stops, and hit the one at mile 3. From there on out it was every 3 miles or so to grab half a Dixie cup of water. I felt I did a good job of keeping my pace going around an 8 min mile all the way to mile 9. Between mile 7 and mile 9 there were times I wanted to slow down and walk. But I remembered what my friend Sheri told me, about being able to slow down but stay running in order to catch your breath. Totally words I needed to remember at that point. I did just that, slowed my pace slightly, slowed down my breathing, kept running.
Between mile 9 and 10 though, I could feel my pace fall off. I wasn’t dehydrated or out of breath. What I needed was a pit stop. Thankfully the next water stop, at mile 10, there was a small green porta-john. Perfect timing! Took care of the project, and headed out on the road again. I was much happier for it–I knew I wasn’t going to be slowing down anymore–now the trick was to get back to a 8 pace. In the back of my mind I knew that probably wouldn’t be possible, so I would settle for a 9 pace for the next 3 miles.
From 11 to 11.5 mile, I was was averaging a 8:45 pace, but from 11.5 to 12 I upped that to an 8:15 pace. At this point I told myself that I’d be happy to finish at 1hr 51 min on the clock. The last 0.3 miles, I went even faster to a 7:00 pace, and somehow managed to finish at 1h 48m! I am thrilled with this time! My fastest half yet!
Runners and Reactions
I am the type of person that will often times feel uncomfortable going into a supermarket, or even going across the street to gaze at the river. I will worry about the way I look, or if I am walking right. I can worry about what people are thinking as they drive by in cars. I have always called these feelings, “anxiety,” because I haven’t another specific term for it. However I do feel that it is more than just simple anxiety.
Some days are better than others. During the good days I am able to go out into the world, do the things I need, and not have a care about how I am perceived. These are the days I am not concerned about my appearance, or my mannerisms.
The good days are also days that I have a set number of things to get done, tasks to accomplish. I am often in a good mood and smiling.
The bad days, in contrast, are difficult, aggravating, and often times I am in a foul mood.
I am in the process of trying to figure out what the triggers are to my bad days. I’m sure its not one thing–motives are always multiple.
When I am out running however, good day or bad, I rarely care what anyone things of me–whether perceived or actual. I’m in a space that is my own, and in a domain that is supportive of all runners. In reality that is not the case. There are many runners, road-runners mainly, that are quite judgmental of other runners. They judge runners for the way they run, their gait, how they dress, etc.
What I have see of trail-runners is somewhat different, they tend to be more open and respectful of all runners–even giving aid when needed.
During the race this morning I wore an appropriately warm top with running shorts. I had a sports bra underneath–which I often have these days due to some pain in my pecs that I experience while running. Most people don’t care, some do stare. Today I heard many comments while running, things along the lines of, “Is that guy wearing a bra?”
I’ve never encountered that on the Cape. Perhaps every other time I’ve always been in such a happy place that I didn’t hear it, but I don’t think that is the case. During the race, upon hearing these comments, I kept pushing and running. I knew that I was doing a hard sport, and the “comment people,” were not.
The ability to stay focused is key for myself in any race that I do. It is also key when shutting out the nay-sayers. I feel I was very good at focusing my mind through the whole race, and even many hours after the race.
