Half-marathon race report

Well, it's over. My first half marathon has come and gone. Mother's day every year is the Forest City Road Races here in lovely London. It's actually quite the well-organized day, and there is something for everyone with a 2.5k, 5k, 10k, and both half and full marathons all taking place. Race time was 8:00 this morning, so for me that meant waking up at 5:30 -- there's only about 15 minutes of travel time to get there, but I wanted enough time to get a bunch of calories into me before the start of the race. So up at 5:30, and about 10 minutes later I was busy eating. It was supposed to be around 10 degrees (about 50F for any of my American friends who might read this), so I had already made the call to wear a t-shirt and shorts. I tend to get quite warm during races, so I thought I might be able to take advantage of the cool weather. Because it was relatively cool, I also decided to ditch the Fuel Belt I've been training with. I figured with aid stations about every 3k, I'd be fine. I ended up having no problem with drinking... except, of course, for the whole spilling half of it on my shirt thing every time I tried to take a drink. Bad times. But, by the final aid station I had it mastered. Only took almost the whole race. I had estimated (more like hoped) for a time of 1:55:00. When my 10k time of 51:35 was plugged into the Runworks calculator based on Daniel's formula, it gave me an estimated time of 1:54:22, so I had rounded it up to the next minute in an attempt at figuring out what pace I should run. My original goal was to be under 2 hours. I broke the race down into four separate 5k "races," plus a 1.1k charge to the finish. As it turns out, my ability to keep a pace seems to suck a little. At the 5k, 10, and 15k marks, I was under my pace by a couple of minutes. I kept thinking I should be slowing down, that I wouldn't have anything left for the final few km... and I was right! From the 16k mark to just before km #19 we began a long trek up a hill into the wind, and suddenly I didn't have to worry about slowing down anymore. In fact, I slowed down so much I thought I was in danger of missing my 2 hour mark. Not the end of the world, to be sure, but when you set a goal for yourself in an unknown situation, it's very nice to come through in the end. I was experiencing pain in my left knee at this point, too, and I could tell I was limping to compensate. Things were momentarily grim. Just after the 19k mark (and my successful drinking at the final aid station) the course joined up with the final 2k of the 10k race, which had started one hour after the half-mary. So suddenly the road was packed with runners. Pain decreasing... pace increasing... time to go! I managed to pick it up for the final km and passed a bunch of people, and crossed the line with a chip time of 1:56:47, for a pace of about 5:32/km (about 8:54/mile). I was one minute, 47 seconds off my estimated time, but I'm not disappointed at all. Overall a good day, and I'm happy to finally have a half marathon under my belt. Here's what I learned:

• With enough Bodyglide, even you can have regular, un-sore nipples after the race!
• I don't need as much water/sports drink when it's cooler (makes sense, I guess).
• Wind and hills really have a negative effect on me late in a long race.
• My pacing needs work... I have to learn to slow down early to go faster late.
• Although I'm improving, I need to continue to practice keeping my shoulders relaxed during a run. I think this really helps in the long haul.

Next up -- Victoria's Duathlon (4k, 25k, 4k) on May 19. Looking forward to beating last year's time by more than just a little.