Half-Assed Runner

Purple lips, goosebumps, and 13.1 miles.

Today I completed the first of my (over?) ambitious goal of running 12 half marathons in 2012.  The Get In Gear Half Marathon marked my first half marathon as well as the beginning of 4 half marathons in 4 weeks.

Packet pickup was held on Friday in the same park that would serve as the start and finish for the race.  I had initially planned on picking up my packet on race day.  I re-read the website as the race approached and it looked like the “limited race day pickup” would be only for out-of-town runners.  I decided not to gamble on whether or not I was an “out-of-towner” and planned to pick up my packet on the night before the race.  When I mapped the address I saw that it was within a few miles of where my wife works so I enlisted her to pick up my packet for me.  She told me it was a bit of a clusterfuck, but was in and out within 15 minutes.

I had been worried about the weather for this race.  There was a forecast that included a possibility of snow the morning of the race.  When I went to bed it was still 50 degrees, so I doubted that the white stuff was on the way.  When I woke up, it was cold, overcast, and windy.  No snow and very little rain.  As I drove into the Cities there was very sparse drizzle.

Dreary Day

I arrived over an hour before the start of the race.  Parking was a breeze (well-marked and police were directing drivers into the lot).  I gathered up my Gu Chomps, “sweat handkerchief”, jawbreakers, and phone.  It had started to sprinkle a bit by then, so I decided at the last second to wear a windbreaker.  I was wearing a short-sleeved tech shirt and shorts.  I knew that once I was chugging along this would be sufficient to keep me warm but I would probably need the jacket while waiting for the start.

It was a good thing that I brought the jacket as it was nasty outside.  I made my way to the bus pickup area and joined a long line of shivering runners.  They were running four school busses between the parking lot and the starting area (about a 20 minute roundtrip).  The rain had picked up a bit, but was still pretty much a sparse drizzle.  Combined with the 42 degree weather and the stiff wind, I was pretty quickly chilled.

Vendor Area

It took about 30 minutes to get on a bus.  By the time I exited it, the start of the race was about 15 minutes away.  I looked for a bathroom, but only found the wall of porta-potties.  One look at the lines and I knew I would never make the race start if I jumped in line.

I snapped a few pictures and made my way to the starting line.  This is a huge race.  It’s the largest 10K race in Minnesota (15th largest in the USA).  There were 7,000 10K runners and about 1,200 half marathoners.  They all  started together.  I eventually found a place at the end of the line.  I couldn’t see the start line I was so far back.

Get In Gear

The race began and it took nearly five minutes for me to cross the starting line.  This was fine with me as I was in no hurry.  My goals for this race were to finish and possibly break the 10 minute per mile mark.

Get In Gear

The course was crowded, but I’m used to this by now.  It was run on roads so there was plenty of room to run around the slower runners.  The course seemed to be a slight downhill slope for most of the first two miles.  For whatever reason, my brain started to protest almost immediately.  The combination of the foul weather and the realization that a mile in only meant that I was 1/13 of the way to completion.  Around the two-mile mark my brain finally shut the fuck up and let my legs do the work.

The rain had picked up a bit, but my jacket does not breathe at all so I kept unzipping it a bit more as I progressed.  I knew that eventually I would need to take it off and tie it around my waist.

Get In Gear Start Line

I hit the first water station around the three-mile mark.  I had not yet started my music and was surprised to hear someone speak my name.  It was a runner from my marathon running group.  She was running the 10K.  For the next 3 miles we ran together and chatted.  I was happy to do this as it took my mind off of the race.  She even offered to take my jacket when the half marathoners and 10K runners split.  I happily took her up on the offer.

The races split near an overpass.  The 10K runners turned and finished their last quarter-mile or so, while the half marathoner ran straight ahead.  After that split the field thinned considerably.

Can't see the start line

At this point I turned on my music and settled into a groove.  The rain had picked up again, but I was riding a mini runner’s high and felt good.  Prior to the split, I had remarked that the course was remarkably non-hilly especially for running along the Mississippi river.  Of course the first hill appeared right after the split.  It was a long, but minor hill as all of the hills would be on this course.

I was now trudging along and unfortunately splashing though puddles of water.  I was soaked but my body temperature was still warm enough that I felt fine.  My goal was to not walk at all on this run and the fact that if I walked I would most likely start freezing kept my legs chugging along.

Rainy at mile 6

The course went straight out until a turnaround at the 9 mile mark.  I started seeing the elite runners coming back the other way just before the 8 mile marker.  This was the only part of the race that I did not like.  It was a slight uphill and I kept anticipating the turnaround long before it came.  Eventually the nine mile mark appeared and I turned around.  I felt better at this point as I knew I was in the final stretch and I was still feeling fine.

Endomondo was measuring the miles shorter than the mile markers.  I chalked this up to the cloudy raining day and the havoc it can wreak on GPS.  It is interesting that a number of the race recaps showed GPS readings near what mine read for the course: 13.35.  That’s probably more due to the weather than the course being long.

Blurry Mile 12 marker

I was just below 10 minute miles for the first two miles.  I had taken out my earbuds as I ran with my running club buddy so I missed the times for miles 3 though 5, but the time elapsed divided by distance run was almost exactly 10 minutes per mile, so I was on point.  Starting with mile 6, I surprised myself by getting a bit faster (9:40, 9:45, 9:38, 9:57, 9:52, 9:50, and a “blistering” 9:14 for mile 13).  I was going to meet my secondary goal of logging sub 10 minute miles.  Well…almost.  I did barely accomplish this goal as Endomondo was logging the miles shorter than the mile markers, so my splits were actually slower than what Endomondo was announcing.

I was never really in any danger of taking a walk break.  I actually got stronger over the last three miles.  I passed a bunch of runners during that time (and was only passed by about 3 runners).  Even the sight of a number of people walking those last few miles did not convince my legs to take a break.  My fastest mile of the whole race was mile 13.

We returned to the point that the 10K and half marathon split and it was now our turn to run over the Mississippi and finish the race.  Surprisingly there was still a pretty good-sized crowd near the end of the race despite the weather and the fact that the 10K runners were all done by that point.  I high-fived a little girl and then started my sprint.  I crossed one set of mats and saw another set about 50 yards ahead so I continued my sprint to cross them.  I looked up and saw a clock reading 1:50.  What!?!  No chance.  I knew I was finishing just under 2:10 and the clock should be reading about 2:15 due to my last start.  I think I figured out what happened: there was 5K race that started after the 10K/half marathon and that was most likely the clock for that race.

Anyhoo…I happily collected my medal and grabbed a banana and some water.  I tried some chocolate milk, then remembered how much I hate chocolate milk.  I was feeling remarkably good.  My legs were not hurting, but I could feel them tightening a bit after I stopped running.  The biggest problem was that I was now getting very cold.  I was completely drenched and it was still 40 degrees and windy.

The wait for the return bus was thankfully short.  I did feel a bit of pain as I climbed the three steps onto the bus.  My legs have a tendency to burn a bit after long runs and I was hoping that they would not start doing this as I sat in the cramped school bus seat.  I was still shivering like crazy.

Shirt and medal

We got back to the parking lot and of course I forgot where I parked.  I wandered the gigantic parking lot looking for my car while shivering like crazy and nursing now painful legs.  I eventually found my car.  I had to crank the heat and try to warm up a little before driving and I could not stop shaking.  A quick glance in the rear view mirror showed that my lips were a light shade of purple.  I had goosebumps the size of small pebbles (okay, a slight exaggeration) running up and down my arms.  It took a good 45 minutes before I finally felt warm.

My legs were fine about 20 minutes after the run and I spent the rest of the miserable day cleaning the garage then drinking too much wine at a friend’s party.

I guess that the Get In Gear has been cold and rainy each of the last three years.  I would recommend the run for the course and the thrill of running with nearly 10,000 other runners (if you find that thrilling), but hopefully the run of bad weather ends.

Get In Gear Half Marathon Map