Last year, I ran the Big Sur Half Marathon. The Big Sur course winds around downtown Monterey, back towards the wharf, over to downtown Pacific Grove, down to Cannery Row and out along the coast then back again. Last year, I bitched and complained and short changed every workout. The longest training run I managed was a single 8 miler. As I ran that race, I found that never once did I find it not fun. I was disappointed in my 3 hour course time. I vowed it wouldn't happen in 2011.
I wasn't a perfect angel in 2011. However, I hit 2 out of every 3 workouts and every long run except 1. I did 2x8milers, 3x9milers, 2x10milers, and a single 11 miler. When my triathlon season ended, I began to notice a decline in my running speed even though I added boot camp to my weekly training. I tried more warm up which helped but didn't bring it all back. I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew I'd beat 3 hours but, by a little or by a lot, I didn't know.
The weather reports leading up to the 2011 Big Sur Half Marathon were doom and gloom - more preciously a very cold 70% rain. My most favorite race was running in the rain. But it wasn't arctic cold! To give me something fun to think about out there, I made a pledge to my friend
Molly (what doing AZIM that day): if she made it to T1 before I made it to mile 10, I'd buy her a Lemon Drop. I figured we were both going for a PR so it would be a win no matter what.
Through out the night, I could hear the rain pounding down and it was still pouring when I woke up. I planned to wear a garbage bag over a long sleeved shirt and over my sleeveless running shirt and arm warmers. It stopped raining shortly before I left for the race.
Because of the proximity of the military base, Big Sur always does the Star Spangled Banner proud and they supply a few soldiers along the course for traffic control. Funny how calm I was. Of course, there was no swim and worry about vertigo. There was no bike and worry about flats. There was just the run and I'd been doing that week after week after week.
When I got into my coral, I knew it wasn't going to rain enough to matter and it was warmer than it was last year. Off came the arm warmers and I threw the garbage bag away. By the time I had come back towards the wharf, I'd stripped off the long sleeved shirt. Perfect weather for a half.
The first part of the run was exactly as planned. GU at 45 minutes, then every 30 minutes after. I had brought my small water bottle to wash down the GU if I wasn't at an aide station. I was even able to do a 10 second fill up of the bottle. Perfect.
As I reached the turnaround at the top of the hill, I was 12 minutes quicker than last year. I had hoped to be moving faster on the down hill, but I was starting to feel the result of all that effort. At mile 9, the voice said to walk. I thought about Molly bouncing around in that frigid lake and kept running. Finally mile marker 10 - time 1:57
(turned out to be a tie with Molly!). Not as good as I'd hoped but still on schedule for a great PR. Somewhere shortly after mile marker 11, the sprinkles started as I hit the last hill. By that time, I was completely done with hills. I wasn't worried about rain by then. Not too much farther to go. Next it was Cannery Row at mile marker 12. The pain really started here and I wanted to walk. I thought of my niece struggling through a lot of pain in rehab and I pushed through. As I got out on the recreation trail, the spectators cheering helped me to keep going. Especially the guy who said we were 1/4 mile out. I didn't know if he was right, but I knew he wasn't that far off.
Finally, the finishing shoot. No smiles today. I just wanted to be done. Keep running.
Time: 2:34:33 and a major PR
That was 26 minutes in a year with me coaching myself. I wonder what I can do in 2012?
