Nike Half Marathon - 8/5/07

This one was definitely a struggle for me - probably the worst I have felt in a race in a very long time. Although I am not training for a marathon this year, I was putting in the long runs and was hoping for a good race. Training was going well up until a couple of weeks ago when my glutes starting to bother me and I was just feeling "off" - not sure it was due to the weather or what but I was getting a little nervous going into the half. The race started right at 7:00 and we were off. I was feeling pretty good at the start of the race, but I realized only a few miles in that I was going way too fast. Pacing is something that I definitely need to work on. I've gone out too fast in the beginning and then struggled during three of my last four long races - the Runner's World Half in April 2006, the NYC Marathon in Nov 2006 and the Nike Half this weekend. I can usually tell after a few miles if I am going to have a good race or not and I knew early that it was probably not going to end well for me. I was trying to slow down in the Park but unfortunately I kept up my quick pace. I was hoping that I would settle down after I left the Park and went onto 7th Ave but it was at the point that I was starting to struggle a bit. By the 7th or 8th mile I was hitting every fluid station which is not a good sign. As we made the left turn on the West Side Trail, I just kept on telling myself to hang on for the rest of the race . For the first time, I found myself walking on a few occasions as the fluid stops came up and for 20 or 30 seconds afterward. Somehow I told myself that I had to finish - this is where your mental strength starts to get tested. It's incredible what you can convince your body to do even when it is feeling strained. I was glad that I was able to realize early on that it was going to be a hard day and was able to convince myself to scale back and try again another day. The finish line was a glorious sight. My race was finally over. Considering how I felt during the race, I was quite happy with my time of 1:52:03. My fast first half gave a me a good cushion for my struggles in the second half. It was great to see all of the Flyer volunteers handing out the medals at the finish line. Once I got my goody bag, water and Gatorade I was able to relax and swap stories with JW, AH, JM and NMc. Hats off to the all of the Flyers who had a great race. I'm going to take it easy for a few days and let my body rest up and hopefully the memory of the second half of this race will start to fade away.