Half-Assed Runner

Half marathon number two is in the books.  I ran a surprisingly fast (as always, fast is a relative term) race on a course known for its hills.  There were plenty of hills, but there were only about four that were substantial.  Most of the others were pretty short and not very steep.  The humidity on the other hand was very formidable.

Packet pickup was on Saturday in Eden Prairie at the Optum Health facilities.  I had to drive in to the data center in Chaska so I was in the area anyways.  I was in and out in about 15 minutes.  It wasn’t too crowded and the process went smoothly.  The race shirt is pretty good-looking.  Note: I had copied the packet pickup info into my calendar when I first signed up and it mentioned packet pickup at the race from 6:30 am to 7:45 am.  Checking the site yesterday it stated that there was no race day pickup.  Always a good idea to check the site prior to packet pickup in case anything has changed.

Faux Staring Line

Weather was my big worry for this race.  It had been cold, wet, and gloomy Saturday morning.  We got more rain in the afternoon and were due for some substantial thunderstorms…which arrived around midnight.  All night I heard rain and thunder and my room lit up with each lightning strike.  When I got up around 6 am it looked like the worst was over.  On my drive east to Wayzata there was no additional rain fall.  The ground was soaked and it was cloudy, but it was 53 degrees with no rain at the start of the race.  I dismissed the 94% humidity as I figured since rain = 100% humidity, this percentage would drop sharply.  I was wrong.  By the end of the race it was 59 degrees with 88% humidity…and I felt it.

Real Starting Line

I was worried about the parking situation.  The website advised that construction in the area had eaten up a lot of parking and that there would be 300 spots at the nearby Junior High.  I got a late start once again, but made it to the lot by 7:15.  At that time the lot was only about 1/3 full.  I killed time until 7:30 then wandered over to the bus.  I did not have to wait in line to board the bus and it left while only about 3/4 full.  It made a couple of other stops to pick up runners in other lots and dropped us off about a quarter-mile from the starting line.  Judging by the number of people walking to the starting area, most of them must have parked close to the start and skipped the bus.

By 7:45 I was in the starting area about 50 feet behind the 2:10 pacer.  The race started in waves and I was in the third of four waves.  We would move up each time a wave started (about every 2 minutes).  Around 8:06 our wave started…well not really.  We actually were moved up and around the corner to the real starting line.  Then shortly afterwards we started for real.  At 8:08 am I crossed the starting line.

Fuzzy Early Miles

My goal was to stick with the 2:10 pacer (9:55/mile pace) and hopefully break away from her near the end of the race.  Once again, my A/B/C goals were: finish, don’t walk, and break 10 minutes/mile.

I ended up breaking ahead of the pacer around the .75 mile mark.  I had looked at the elevation profile for the race as I had heard it was hilly and didn’t want any surprises.  From that profile, the biggest hill was a 40 foot uphill from the start of the race until about the 1 mile mark.  I wanted to put a little distance between myself and the pacer in case I started to slow down on the uphill.  I ran the first mile in 9:39 so this was not an issue.

Rolling Hills

What goes up, must (well, SHOULD) come down, so that must be what accounted for my second mile.  I ended up with a 9:08 split.  This was way too fast for an early mile on a half marathon course.  Miles 3 – 9 were all run within 8 seconds either side of 9:30/mile.  This was a bit fast for me.  I really wanted to be closer to 9:50 until mile 10 and then speed up at that point if I had it in me.

I wore a long-sleeved tech shirt and some really thin shorts.  By the second mile my shirt was already damp.  This would continue through the entire race.  I sweated out a small ocean.  I was never uncomfortably hot (the temp ranged from 52 to 59 over the course of the race), but the near tropical humidity was a bear.  I had taken some magnesium tablets before the race and had Sport Beans with me to replenish some salt/minerals.  I also had a Gu with me, but did not end up using it.

Epic Fro

The course was nice.  There were tons of lake views as well as mansions and gardens along the path.  This was a point to point course that started in Wayzata and ended in Excelsior (near the launching area for the infamous Vikings cruise of a few years ago).  A lot of the run was spent in the left shoulder of various roads.  This was not a closed course.  The wave start really helped the spacing so it never got too crowded.  Also, I did not notice any walkers and (after the first mile) no three abreast or more runners.

I hit all of the water stops and alternated between water and sports drink.  I think I will stick to just water in the future.  I’m fine with just popping a few Sport Beans if I need flavor/calories.  Despite the crazy humidity, I did not get super thirsty like I did during Goldy’s Run.

Lake views were plentiful

There was only one point where I panicked a bit.  Around mile 8 I started looking for a water stop.  I saw one with just a single table and a group of three kids frantically trying to fill cups.  I figured that this was just a group of super nice spectators and not an official water stop (all of the other stops had many more volunteers and multiple tables) so I skipped it.  Shortly after passing it I started to worry that it was an official water stop.  The last stop had been around the 5 mile mark, and I thought that the next one would be around mile 12 so I was in danger of going 7 miles between rehydrating.  Around the 8.5 mile mark I saw an official stop and grabbed some water.  Disaster averted.

I had been pretty much averaging 9:30 miles since mile 3 (Endomondo doesn’t announce an overall average pace, only split times and a less than helpful pace in miles per hour).  I kept telling myself to dial it back a bit as I didn’t want to go belly up and walk the last few miles a la Goldy’s Run.  I had one of those moments where I forgot if I the next mile marker would be 8 or 9.  I got the best present a few minutes later when Endomondo announced that I had just finished mile 10.  I was now just over 5.5 minutes ahead of my 2:10 pace goal by that point thanks to a 9:15 split on mile 10.

Trail around mile 12

In my last half marathon it was at this point that I started to slowly pick up the pace and run the last 5K strong.  This time I started to fade at this point.  I had been pacing off of two younger guys and I forced myself to slow down and let them go.  Nothing was hurting, but I felt my energy fading.  This turned the remaining hills into a mental battle to keep from walking.

I did end up walking once during mile 11.  As I said, the course was not closed.  This meant that traffic was backed up all along the course.  They may have as well shut down the roads as waiting for a gap in the 2,500 runners was an exercise in futility.  Soon after I faded back a bit to slow down I approached a cross walk.  There was a traffic cop facing a long line of backed up cars.  He motioned the first car forward through the cross walk and I had to come to a halt.  Fair enough I guess.  BUT after the first car went through he motioned the second one through as well.  At this point there was a large group of runners right behind me and that would have meant that they would have to stop as well.  I looked at the cop and said “Fuck no” and ran through the cross walk before the car could get rolling.  I’m not sure why he thought even letting the first car through was a good idea, but I wasn’t waiting for another car.  He didn’t say anything or shoot me so I guess that he knew it was a bad idea as well.  Of course stopping threw me off my mojo and soon after I had another hill to climb.  I took my first and only walk break out of a combination of anger at being stopped, the need to open my Sport Beans package to fish out some beans, and sheer exhaustion.  I walked for about 30 seconds.  That combined with the last water stop occurring just before the 11 mile mark led to my slowest mile of the day (9:59).

Finish Chute

Mile 12 was not much faster and I was fading pretty fast.  Endomondo was measuring the miles a bit short and by this point it was announcing splits about a minute before I saw the course markers.  I was still ahead of schedule, but I was constantly waging a mental war to avoid walking.  I did end up high (well, low) fiving three little girls and gave a thumbs up to woman playing an accordion.  The spectators and volunteers were all pretty awesome.

Midway through mile 12 I was presented with a surprise: a dirt trail.  Ugh.  I was really sucking at this point and even though the path was flat and pretty, I was bemoaning the pavement change and wanting to use it as an excuse to start walking.  There were plenty of people walking at this point.  A lot of them would end up getting passed by me, then start running and pass me, then walk and get passed again.  I settled behind two women and paced off of them.  I did not see the mile 12 marker and was unsure exactly how far ahead of the official distance my GPS was reading.

Finish Area

We eventually exited the path and entered more residential streets.  At this point the crowds were growing and I could sense that the end was near.  Endomondo was showing 12.85 miles, so I estimated that I was closer to 12.6 miles.  I wanted to start picking up the pace, but there were some smaller hills and I really did not have much energy left.  I saw a man walking the opposite way with a medal around his neck and he held up three fingers and told me “only three more minutes”.  Soon after I picked up the pace a bit.  There were a few runners already sprinting.  After the third one shot past me I joined suit.  The finish line had a “mini-tron” and there were race photographers along with a ton of cheering spectators and finishers.  I ended up crossing in just over 2:05.  A new half marathon PR and nearly 5 minutes faster than what I had hoped for on this course.

Medal Front

I was completely drenched.  I picked up my finisher’s medal (huge and heavy!) and then waiting in line…for what I did not know.  I was looking for water at this point and did not understand why no one was moving.  I waited about two minutes then jumped over one of the barriers.  This was the only thing that was poorly planned/executed in the whole race: the finishing corral emptied into a large covered area where runners could grab a plate and choose from a bunch of post race snacks.  This was stupid because it ended up backing up all the finishers.  I personally could give a fuck about post race snacks, but I definitely needed some water at that point.  If they had been handing out bottles of water right after the finish, then waiting in the chow line would not have been so bad.  Hell, they had a huge park at their disposal, even moving the chow hall somewhere else would have been a better option.

Medal Back

I managed to snag two cups of water by reaching over the barrier and taking them from a table at the end of this clusterfuck.  I guzzled them down and headed for the return buses.  After a short walk, I jumped on a bus and was on my way in no time.  The bus ride back to Wayzata took about 15 minutes and was pleasant except for the fact that I left a puddle of sweat in the seat when I stood up.

Shirt Front

All in all this was a great race.  The race was hilly, but only about four of the hills were anything to write home about.  The race support was great and the course was pretty.  The shirts and medals were first-rate.  I will definitely do this race again, but hopefully under less humid conditions.

Shirt Back

Course Map