Lehigh Valley Half Marathon

Last year on this weekend I completed my first Half. I didn't do speedwork but I followed a training plan and put in my scheduled miles. I did a 14 miler a week or two before the race. Race day came and I finished in 2:25:08. The following weekend I completed the Broad Street 10 miler in 1:40 something.

This year I starting to build my base in December. The Sunday before Christmas I did a long run of 9.25 miles and then I got sick. I was sick off an on all January and February and never got a run in during February (I did lots of low impact cross training though). I gave up on my registered races (the Lehigh Valley Half on 4/27 and the Broad St 10miler on 5/4). I started to run a little but was nowhere near where I was (max run of about 7 miles). Two weeks ago I got in my biggest run since that Sunday before Christmas, another 9.25 but really slow. After that run I decided I would do the races. I would treat the Half as a training long run and give my all to Broad Street.

Now its race weekend. I had a decent week of running light and felt ok. I had no expectations for this race and decided my strategy would be to walk the water stops so I wouldn't hurt myself for Broad Street. Saturday I went with DD to the expo and picked up my bib, chip and shirt (a very nice wind jacket). That night Jill and I went to the pasta dinner and heard Joan Benoit Samuelson speak. Went home and immediately hit the hay.

The dog woke me up at 4:45 am which was 15 minutes too early but I was somewhat awake anyway. I got ready, stopped and picked up a large Dunkin Donuts coffee and ate my powerbar on the way to Jill's. Pam and her husband picked us up at 6:45 and we were on our way!

I placed myself behind the 2:20 pace group, which I thought was a bit too far up from where I was going to place but was good enough. It took about 2 minutes to get over the finish and I was freezing (perfect race weather, 50s and cloudy). I thought of Theia because the music at the start was U2's Elevation. I was running faster than I planned but not too fast and it felt fine so I kept it going. I was feeling strong almost the entire race and had passed all the 2:20 pace group befor ethe 1/2 way point. I walked through a couple of water stops in the beginning but just for about 1/2 a minute. I stayed consistent until around mile 7 where there was a hill, I slowed a bit then and from that point on I stopped to walk for about 1/2 a minute each mile. I was really tired by mile 12 but realized that I was going to come under 2:20 so that kept me going. I wanted a 2:15 at that point but knew I was too tired and figured any PR for me was good enough since I really wasn't prepared for this race. Right before you come into the stadium, around 12.75 there is this little steep hill (I really think it was someone's cruel joke). I charged up it as best I could and got into the stadium and was so unhappy that I still needed to run around the track to get to the finish but I managed and tried to go a little faster right before the finish.

Here are my splits:

10:38
10:30
10:20
10:22
10:14
10:17
9:58
10:45
11:02
10:21
10:28
10:29
10:31
9:25

I was so happy when I got over the mat and looked at my watch and realized I totally PR'd. At first I couldn't remember my last half's time and thought it was 2:27 so I thought I had a 10 min PR but in reality I had an 8 minute one. I was extremely emotional, big smile but tears in my eyes and feeling like I wanted to bawl.

It took me forever to find Jill but I was so happy to see them and hear that she came in under 1:55! We had a long long walk to the car which hurt but was probably good for us. I came home and got in the ice bath (probably a little late but I figured it couldn't hurt), grabbed a Magic Hat No 9 and Notion and then went and used my $10,000 foam roller (my hot tub - it has this crazy forceful jet in the middle that feels like a foam roller if you put your feet/legs, etc over it.) I made sure I got my legs and feet good and massaged and came in for a nap.

I'm really happy with my time and I realize that with training I can do even better. Now on to Broad Street...