Half Marathon - Personal Best

It was a brisk 43 degrees Saturday morning. This was quite the contrast of the 90 degrees at the Ironman Longhorn just a few weeks ago. Rebecca and I had decided to run the Soaring Wings Half Marathon in Conway. This event benefits a Christian home for children in Conway. I believe this was their first year. This was an awesome event! The course was great, the rest stops were great, the finishers metal was great and finish line food was awesome! Rebecca and I will make this a regular event. Mark your calenders for the third week of October next year. The website is www.soaringwingshalf.com.

The race started at 8 AM so we planned to arrive just before 7 AM to pickup our packets and timing chips. The online registration showed around 600 participants, so this was going to be a nice sized event. We got checked in and ready to roll.

I had some fairly lofty goals for this event. As most of you know, I have lost over 30 lbs this year. In addition to that, I have done more run training than in the past. We trained for the Ironman Longhorn with the plan to move into the Marathon training for the LR marathon in March. Even though this was a spur of the moment decision to do this event, we were physically and mentally ready.

Earlier this year, at the LR Half, I ran with a time of 3 hours. Two year ago, I ran the LR half at 2 hours and 35 minutes. In my mind, with the weight loss and the training, I was convinced I could do this half marathon in under two hours. You read that correctly, I was hoping to do the race in under two hours. I only told a couple of friends this number, and they thought I was crazy. One of my good friends, Hboo, even gave his prediction of a 2:09 finish. Make no mistake about it, for me, that would be a phenomenal time, but I wanted the gold standard of a sub two hours. Another one of my friends, Jo, thought I was crazy as well. She would later tell me her and another friend were discussing my goal and getting a slight laugh. I can just hear them saying, "Oh that Chris Irons, he such a funny guy".

I had a solid plan. I planned to start out with the 1:55 pace group. This would allow me to get a jump start and allow me to drop back to the 2 hour pace group if I needed too. If all else failed, I knew I had to have a pace of 9:09 per mile to get below 2 hours, I had my garmin ready to roll.

I joined the 1:55 group at the start as planned. I was running along trying my best not to look at my garmin. The pace felt great, but I knew the number would scare me If I looked down. I made it two miles without looking at my garmin. We had averaged 8:41 for the first two miles. I snarled a bit but decided to give it my best. Just after mile 3, I had that bonking feeling. I had a great dinner the night before and some pancakes for breakfast. I had consumed plenty of food, but my blood sugar seemed to be in trouble. I didn't bring anything, other than water, with me. A volunteer was handing out sport beans at one of the rest stops. I couldn't get to them in time, but two ladies next to me grabbed some. They didn't like the taste and were considering throwing them away at the next stop. I quickly volunteered to dispose of them. They handed them over and I inhaled them. That seemed to help a bit, but I needed more. I was in trouble.

I hung with 1:55 group until mile 6. I could have stayed with them a bit longer, but this rest stop was handing out Roctane Gu Gels and I needed some crack. I grabbed three packets, a Gatorade and decided on a porta potty quick stop.

The right turn past this rest stop was downhill and I needed it to get moving again. A half a mile later, I was in a race car. My blood sugar shot up and my legs decided they wanted to move. I settled into a 8:30 pace. This course had several inclines and a couple of small hills. I blew up the next hill at 8:20 and found myself running just over an 8 pace on the flats. I was a bit confused. I was not putting out that much effort but was blazing a trail and passing several people who had been in the 1:55 group. I decided to let my body guide me and run whatever pace it would allow me to run, no matter how fast it was. From mile 7 to 10 I was a different person. I would see the pace as low at 7:55 and as high as 9. The important thing was my average being 8:50.

I reached the 10 mile marker and started telling myself there was just a 5k left. How many Triathlons have a done and just had to suffer through the 3 mile run? I can kick in the pace and finish this out. I was already doing the numbers and figuring out what pace I need to finish in under 2 hours if I had to walk. It was then that I had tough talk with myself. I will not be walking I will be picking up the pace.

I keep passing mile markers, 10, 11, 12. At mile 12, my legs decided to let me know they were in some pain. The last half mile starts with a big downhill ending with a flat finish. That downhill nearly ripped my quad muscled from the bone. My legs were screaming, but I was not going to let them win. We were going to finish strong. I picked up the pace as I rounded the corner to the finished line. I looked up at clock and couldn't keep from smiling. I crossed the line at 1:56:24.

They removed my timing chip and gave me my medal. The medal was very cool and heavy. I walked back to finish line to watch other finishers. I took off my shoes to let my feet relax. That is when it hit me, my wife has not finished yet. I had actually finished a running race before my superhero wife who is a great runner. I looked at the clock, she still had two minutes to finish in under 2 hours. Under my breath I started repeating, come on baby, come on, where are you. There she was coming around the last corner. I looked at the clock and she had 45 seconds to finish. She was going to finish in under 2 hours. She crossed the line at 1:59:30.

It was an amazing morning. We both had personal best and finished in under 2 hours. (Don't tell anyone, but I think I like this running stuff).