Smartest Race I Ever Ran
Date: 06/10/06
Time: 8:00am
Route: Helvetia Half Marathon (
view route)
Distance: 13.1 miles
Official Time: 1:56:54Dog: No
Notes: As part of my training for the
Portland Marathon with
PortlandFit, I ran the
Helvetia Half Marathon. A
half marathon is 13.1 miles and before this race my longest training run was only 10 miles. I had also been a bit lax in my training runs compared to when I did PortlandFit 3 years ago. So, heading into the race I was a bit reserved about my expectations. In fact I was a little nervous. I knew that this would be a good measure of my progress and preparation for the big one coming in September.
Look here and you will see my name listed as the 122nd male finisher, with a time of 01:42:44.0 and an average mile pace of 7:50--that was my result
3 years ago. Not too bad, but I knew that I was in nowhere near that kind of shape this time.
Hoping to salvage a decent race, I choose to run with a couple of my friends who are also training for the marathon. My plan was to try and keep up with the fastest of them and hope for the best. I haven’t been training with a watch, so I didn’t really know what kind of pace I could maintain, but I figured something around 9 or 9:10 minute miles would be doable.
It turns out a 9 minute pace was almost exactly what
Tiffany Housely was running and we settled into a nice groove. She was a great companion and offered not only a comfortable pace, but an interesting conversation as well, which, as anyone who runs knows, can help to make the miles sneak by.
What I did remember about this race from a few years ago was a stretch in the middle that sucked.
See that elevation chart? There’s nothing but hills for 4 miles, right in the middle of a 13 mile race. Well, the comfortable pace suited me, because when we got to the hills I hardly felt my effort level increase and then we were through them. Sure mile 5 was clocked at 9:45, but it is nothing but a big hill!
After the big peaks, there were only a couple of miles of slightly rolling hills, followed by 4 flat miles—and I’ve been comfortably running, actually saving myself to finish strong. In my limited racing
experience, that was a first. When we passed the marker for mile 10 I was able to drop the hammer and increased my pace by 60 seconds a mile. Unheard of for me. I’m usually the guy who’s being passed by everyone at the end as I try to claw my way to the finish.
Add to all of this some good food and water management during the race and I easily ran the smartest race of my career.
Mile Splits:- 9:11
- 9:19
- 9:00
- 9:03
- 9:44
- 8:58
- 9:22
- 8:52
- 8:58
- 9:17
- 7:56
- 7:33 <--Wah Hoo!
- 7:48
Thursday.4
Date: 06/01/06
Time: 9:00am
Route: My house up to Glisan then down to 139th for a loop over to Burnside. Came home via 172nd and cut across the school yard to avoid Halsey.
Length:5mi (
view)
Dog: Yep
Notes: Fourth Thursday in a row for this route.
Take me to the river
Date: 06/06/06
Time: 8:30am
Route: 2 loops at the dog park with the new spur
Length:4.85mi (
view)
Dog: Yep
Notes: Pushed a little further out the spur and probably, got this to 5 miles.
9 miles
Date: 06/03/06
Time: 10:00am
Route: Took my usual 5 mile route and then picked up the dog for 4 more.
Length:9mi (
view)
Dog: Yep
Notes: 4 mile out and back with dog was on the bike path along side I84. We only saw one bike, so I let Sinopah run off-leash.
It was hot. I got a little de-hydrated and felt sick for a couple of hours after the run. A home remedy of 1 tablspoon of water every 5 minutes, got me feeling better.
Thursday.3
Date: 06/01/06
Time: 7:00pm
Route: My house up to Glisan then down to 139th for a loop over to Burnside. Came home via 172nd and cut across the school yard to avoid Halsey.
Length:5mi (
view)
Dog: Yep
Notes: Third Thursday in a row for this route. Didn't get up early enough to run in the am, so we ran after work. It sprinkled on us off and on, but I remembered my Body Glide, so everything was good.
First run in a new pair of shoes and they feel amazing! I don't know why I wait so long to get new shoes, they feel so good. The shoe manufactures talk about a comfortable ride and it always seems like marketing hooey, but these guys have a nice ride. There is no other way to describe it. The transition from heel to toe just feels good. They did cause a bit of discomfort for about .5 a mile at mile 3 in my left shin and right knee. Probably from that new comfy ride being just different enough from my old broke ride that it irritated my gait. Every thing was good for the lat 2 miles, but I'll keep you posted if I have more issues.