Fast-forward two years to now, the Geist Half. As everyone knows, I wasn't feeling extremely confident about whether or not I could beat that 1:57, which I had originally set out to do. The longest run I had done in the month leading up to this race was a 6-mile. During my runs, I felt that my natural pace had sped up, for instance even when I felt like I was taking it a little bit easier, I was still under 9 min/mile. But my finish times for my runs weren't showing any overall improvement, usually because I had been drastically slowing down in the second half. Friday night before my race, I was doing my best to envision myself beating that old time, but also trying to accept the fact that it just might not happen.
Luckily, it did. I finished at 1:54. THREE whole minutes faster than my previous PR!! The weather cooperated--it was probably the best temperature I've ever had for a race; never hot, never cold. Starting off at a conservative pace really helped me. Any time my Garmin indicated that I was running at an 8:30 pace or faster, I made myself slow down, even though it felt ok at the time. That's the mistake I made at the Ft. Ben Harrison race in fall of 2010--I was running 8:40 miles in the first half of the race, which was fast and new for me at the time, and towards the end I hit a wall. I kept reminding myself of that race, saying even if the faster pace feels good now, how will it feel in 3 more miles? There's that whole second half to think about. The other thing to remember when running both the Ft. Ben Harrison and the Geist is that the hills take a greater toll on your body than you think. At first they're just an annoyance, but soon they become mountains, and your legs start protesting. I just kept saying to myself, what goes up, must come down. Check out the elevation map below:
Another technique I tried this time was finding someone in the crowd and making a point to keep up with them. I found myself behind 2 girls that were consistently running at an 8:45 pace, which was my goal. In my efforts to not let them out of my sight, I'm sure they felt me creeping on their heels the whole time. We parted around mile 8 after the big hill, because they started slipping to over 9 min/miles, and I knew the trap of continuing to follow them at that point. So, from then on, rather than finding pacers, I found people to beat--picking out one conquest at a time.
God has a funny way of keeping me humble... Chad and I were sitting under a tree in the post-race area while I basked in the glory of my 1:54 finish time and drank the free beer that all participants got. I felt a plop on top of my head and instantly thought please don't let that be....yep... bird poop. Of course there were no napkins anywhere to be found, but luckily, someone nearby saw what happened and offered me a Squatti Pottie wipe. Us runners are resourceful, if nothing else. Just goes to show that even when you're feeling on top of the world, you can still get shit on. :)
A picture moments before the airbomb:
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