USA HALF CHAMPS
Well this just simply didn't go as well as I had hoped. I knew going in that my fitness had declined some, but this was just frustrating. I really wanted to run well here and have a good showing, but it wasn't meant to be. I gave it my all though, so I can hold my head up high.
I wanted to get out at 5:05 for the first mile and try to ease into 5:00 pace. So, for my warmup I did 2.75 miles with 0.5 miles at 5:45 pace to get the heart rate up and I also did some strides. I made three visits to the porta potties and was ready to roll. I felt like it was going to be a good day. The tailwind we were hoping for (forcasted at 16 mph two hours before the race) simply didn't show up and it was rather calm.
The gun went off and the leaders just flew off the line! At the half mile point I was 20 seconds back from the lead and I thought "Oh man if I want to win this thing I have to move now!" but by the mile they were 45 seconds up! (I'm joking obviously about the winning thing). It was very impressive to see them pull away at 4:20 pace for the first mile. By mile two I could no longer see them. Anyway, I went out in 5:05 on the dot just as planned...perfect. The pace felt easier than I anticpated too, so I was quite pleased. Mile two I passed about 10 people and ran a 5:02. Mile three I passed a few morel, but not too many and ran another 5:02. I came through the 5k in 15:40...awesome.
Right around this time I felt the first pangs of GI distress. I told myself it would be fine and I would be ok and try some mind over matter thinking to get it to go away. Around 3.5 miles in Brad caught up to me and we both passed Jason around this point. Brad was looking good, we ran together for the next mile or so and then he started to pull away. He ended up with a negative split and ran 1:06:4x, not bad for his first real race of the year and four months off in the winter.
My stomach was still about the same and I was still trying to will it away. My pace started to slow and I kept fighting to get the pace back on. I was yo-yo-ing which is a bad sign that your pace is going to slow soon, but it also means you're fighting mentally to stay on it. Mile 4 was 5:09, so not as good as I wanted but still decent. Mile 5 had some uphill and I split a 5:12. Jason passed me again in mile 5. I once again tried to pick back up the pace and just follow him and some other guys. I did and I got the pace back a tad...Mile 6 5:08 and 10k split was 31:51. Now my stomach was really bugging and I knew I wasn't going to be able to will it away. I slowed a bit here and ran a 5:18 mile 7. I was able to pick it up a tad in the next stretch but not too much. I caught up to Jason one last time and almost right after I passed him the port a potty came up and I decided to stop then even though my pace was picking up, because the next one would be a mile minimum away.
So, I hopped in and made it reasonable quick and got back to the grind. I was passed by 25 people from 10k to mile 10 and 23 of them were while I was in the port a potty! It was a packed group of runners. When I came out I was in complete no-man's land. The next guys in front of me were 20 seconds ahead. I hit mile 8 in 5:50 (37 seconds of which was downtime so about 5:13 pace).
After my stop I really struggled. There weren't as many people to work with and I was toward the back of the race now, and my closest targets to catch were 20 seconds up. I tried to get back into the 5-teens, but I just couldn't. My pace kept slowing, I'd look at my watch, think unacceptable, attempt to speed up, and then look down to see I had barely sped up. It was really frustrating. I felt like I was moving well, but my watch said otherwise. I'd get passed and try to go with them and even passed some of the guys back, but my mental toughness couldn't hold out much longer over my physical fatigue.
I fought tooth and nail for every second though, not wanting to get completely embarrassed (running 116th and a 1:10 was already embarrassing enough I surely didn't want a 1:11 or 1:12)! It was a bigtime grind and struggle. But honestly I am way proud of my mental toughness during those last miles, because it very easily could've been so much worse. Several times I almost gave in to slower, more comfortable paces, but refused to let that happen and gave it my all (even though it was only 5:30 pace).
Anyway final miles were somewhat lonely and miles 9-13 were 5:24 5:30 5:30 5:28 5:26 and 5:07 for last tenth.
I honestly felt embarrassed coming down the finish line, there were only a handful of stragglers behind me. I tried hard to pick up that last tenth and salvage a 1:09:xx, but I couldn't get my legs to move faster than 5:07 pace.
Luckily, the race and the directors are such great hosts that the bad race is easier to put behind you. They put on a world-class race there and they were extremely hospitable. Awesome organization all around. We couldn't have asked for a better organized event.
So, I have some work to do. Yes, I had a pit stop and yes it was hard to get going again after it, but even without it I wouldn't have managed better than 1:08:xx. I have to face the fact that I've stopped doing some of the little things that I was doing earlier in the year and I've gone away from the training that was making me successful and I'm paying a price for it now. I need to re-focus my training on improving my weakness (aerobic fitness or marathon pace) and I need to get my weight back down to where it was in March.
I know I can run so much better than this, but I have to get back to what I was doing earlier in the year and I will. I expect too much out of myself to be satisfied with my performance yesterday (and in the last few races). | 
