I ran my first sub-2-hour half-marathon in December 2015. Out of 31 half marathons run before today (not counting virtual races), 6 of those races were sub-2 finishes. The last time that I broke 2 hours was in December 2019, when I was probably in the best shape of my life. Since then, I've finished much slower, including one disastrous race in December 2021 and a truly crappy effort early this year. My most recent sub-2 attempt was out of reach by the 10K mark. I had big plans to gradually build distance over the summer. But by the end of August, my longest effort was 9 miles.
If I was ever going to break 2 hours again, I needed some discipline, with the Atlanta Track Club training program. I didn't manage the training perfectly, but did the best that I could balancing running with challenges in life and at work. During the course run on November 4, I felt a quadriceps pull about 8 miles in. After it was apparent it wasn't going away on its own, I ended up walking 2 miles back to the car, wondering if my training was finished for this round. I dusted off the physical therapy exercises, and fortunately it resolved within a few days. A set of "monster walks" seemed immediately curative. With a little surprise, on November 8 I ran a 3-kilometer indicator run on the track at Agnes Scott College in 14:48, putting forth a maximum effort, but with minimal pain. If there was slight disappointment, plugging that 3-km time into the venerable McMillan calculator predicted a half-marathon finish of 2:00:22. Oh well, I was confident that I would run better than my March race. I resolved to be happy with any substantial improvement, whether it was shorter or longer than 2 hours.
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| I'm in the middle, near the back but still visible if you look carefully |
For my "Breaking 2" project, 11 weeks of Saturday long runs with a 10-minute/mile pace group culminated in a perfect weather morning: 41 deg F, little or no wind, and clear skies. I had not perfectly managed the training program, but did the best that I could while navigating some work-life-running challenges. During the course run on November 4, a quadriceps strain slowed me down 7 - 8 miles in, and after accepting that the pain wasn't magically going away, I walked 2 miles directly back to the car. As soon as I was home, I dusted off the physical therapy exercises, and fortunately it resolved within a few days. It seemed that a set of "monster walks" was immediately curative. To my surprise, on November 8 I ran a 3-kilometer indicator run on a track in 14:48, without pain. If there was slight disappointment, plugging that 3-km time into the MacMillan calculator predicted a half-marathon finish of 2:00:22.
But one reason for optimism was the successful PNC Atlanta 10-miler one month ago, where I averaged the 2-hour half-marathon goal pace of 9:09 min / mile for 9 miles, banking enough energy for a faster finish. The hilly 10-miler route had covered some of the same terrain as today's race course, so I felt it was a valid predictor race. I also had vivid positive memories of the course from my personal-best 1:53:14 race on Thanksgiving Day in 2019. Fortunately I had no trouble accepting that I could not even get close to that personal best in today's effort. As we gathered in the corral for wave C, Chris Carino asked what was my goal, and I replied "1:59:59 - I'll be very happy with that!"
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| Thousands of runners in front, looking due north toward downtown Atlanta |
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| Lined up just behind the 2 hour pacer |
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| Thousands of runners starting behind me, looking due south toward Center Parc Stadium |
The 2:00-hour pacer lined up at the very front of wave C. I took a position a few rows back, resolving not to accidentally pass the pacer in the beginning of the race. It took a while to begin, perhaps there was a delay with clearing traffic from the route, but the 7:45 am start for wave A was delayed until 7:55 am. Had we started on time, the track club's plan was to separate waves by 3 minutes, but with the later start, Ronnel Blackmon was instructed to send us forward every 2 minutes. Ronnel gave the signal to begin, and I crossed the starting mat within a few seconds, but was immediately 50 feet behind the 2-hour pacer. The route was crowded, and my legs felt stiff, even though I had properly warmed up and then had kept moving while waiting in the corral. Before long we were on top of the back of wave B, and that slowed things down a bit, which was probably ideal in retrospect. I very gradually loosened up, and was more comfortably running at 9:10 min / mile pace approaching the state Capitol complex. After turning left on Decatur Street, I passed the 1-mile marker at 8:56. The 2-hour pacer was probably 10 seconds ahead of that hot pace. I guess I was going to be on my own today.
Running northwest through downtown Atlanta, I thought about how easy this felt at mile 2 of a race than in mile 26 of the full marathon. This part of the route felt fairly level. Before long we were at 18 minutes elapsed, covering mile 2 in 9:06, closer to goal pace. The pacer was still about 10 seconds ahead but perhaps he was under control. Then we began an extended downhill section along Marietta Street, fairly gently past Georgia Tech. At the mile 3 marker (8:55, 27 minutes elapsed) a fellow runner shouted out "Just 10 miles to go!" I corrected him: "10.1 miles!" He conceded "Never underestimate the last 0.1 mile." Then we crossed the 5K timing mat, 28 minutes flat for me (9:00 min / mile average pace). "Now it's 10 miles to go, I called out!" There was nice camaraderie amongst the runners in the group running around me, although I missed the first water station in that section, as it came up a little earlier than I had expected from studying the course map in the days before today's race. Fortunately I had elected to carry a 16-ounce plastic bottle of Nuun, so I didn't need the extra hydration, although I wondered if I should have taken the walk break. Turning onto Northside Drive, there was a longer and slightly more pronounced slope: steep enough to see it and revel in it, but not steep enough to mess up my form. Heading downhill, thinking of the mantra "Relax and Glide", I caught up to run lead Brad Blitz, who had led most of my long runs in this training round. He was happy to hear that I was running well so far. When I complained a bit about the fast pacer, Brad said "Probably trying save some time before getting into the hills." I replied "I'm trying to save some energy before getting into the hills." Mile 4 in 8:50, reaching the mile 4 marker around 36 minutes flat. I thought to myself, "The Atlanta Track Club should create the Fulton County Downhill 4-miler race!"
At this stage I took my first gel, as planned. A water station was just one minute ahead, but I still had a few ounces of Nuun, and swigged down the last of that mixture instead of dealing through the chaos of the water station. Brad and I ran near each other through most of Atlantic Station. The 2-hour pacer was up ahead somewhere, but nowhere in my sight, never saw him again today. I think Brad was informally pacing a couple of other runners, certainly providing encouragement in the fashion of a good pacer. There was still a lot of conversation amongst the runners. I noticed landmarks such as the Millenium Gate. At the Interstate 75-85 overpass, I completed mile 5 in 8:57 on my watch, and around 45 minutes elapsed as we passed the official marker.
Making a sharp right downhill turn following the tangent onto Spring Street, we were soon running uphill, for the first time since the first half-mile of the race. I focused on form, imagined running a tangent over the next three blocks to the left town onto 14th Street. The road was more steeply uphill, but by shortening my steps and maintaining a quick turnover, I managed to keep moving until the crest at Peachtree Street. I audibly let out my breath on the other side of Peachtree, "Wheeeewww!" and resuming gliding past mile 6, 9:15 and 54 minutes elapsed. That was my first mile slower than goal pace, but perfectly expected with 70 foot ascent for that mile.
After heading into Piedmont Park, past a large cheer group, I crossed the 10K timing mat at 56:11, averaging 9:03 min / mile pace. I still felt really strong, knew that I was slightly ahead of pace, having balanced reserves of both time and energy during the net downhill sections. I walked through the Piedmont Park hydration station, taking my first walk break of the race, although it was very short, probably only 15 seconds. Returning to pace, I accidentally bumped elbows with another runner - "Sorry!" we both said. Then the woman looked again and said "Hi Frank!" Oh, it was Jacqueline Garner, "JG" from Coach Carl's training group! JG and I are the same age. She is a step faster than me, but I'm close enough so that we sometimes ran speed workouts together, or I would trail by a few meters, letting JG pace me through the workout. I started to chat about how well my race was going, trying for a sub-2-hour finish. JG had the same goal "I'm not going to talk much" she said "But we can encourage each other!" JG was all business today. While I had intended to stick with her for awhile, knowing we would need mutual encouragement in the uphill miles to come, JG effortlessly moved ahead, on the way to a negative split and 1:58:05 finish. I took a look at my watch as the time approached 1 hour flat: 6.65 miles, so about 1 minute ahead of goal pace. Mile 7 came up quickly, 9:08 minutes. There was a big cheer group at the Charles Allen Gate, representing Atlanta Run Club. Despite most of their members probably running this race, they still had a really good turnout.
On 10th Street, we were running uphill, reversing the last half-mile of the Peachtree Road Race. When I ran this race in 2019, I remembered feeling the heavy wings of Fatigue in this section. Today I still felt strong, thanks to the slightly slower pace. My attitude was 100% positive. That was really helpful, because turning left onto Juniper Street, we were in the midst of a 2-mile, net 100 foot uphill stretch. I told myself, "Don't look at your watch" and "You've got this, you're doing great!" channeling Ali Feller's signoff on her podcast. When the mile 8 alert sounded near 8th street, 9:14 - not bad! We kept climbing past 6th street, where we had turned off for the 10-miler a month ago. Today we kept grinding on. This was where my quad strain had begun on the course run three weeks ago, but today - nothing, no pain at all!
I took my second gel while crossing Ponce de Leon Avenue. That was perfectly timed, because one block later was the water stop, just where I expected it. Here I took the full 30 seconds to drink a cup of water mixed with a cup of powerade. That invigorated me as I resumed running. Mile 9: 9:26, my slowest mile so far. But running uphill, taking a walk break, I was able to put aside those concerns. 1:22 elapsed as I passed the mile 9 marker. That felt like what I had run in the 10-mile race last month, so assured me that I was on track. 38 minutes left to cover 4 miles. No ... 4.1 miles. I had run the first 4 miles, downhill, in 36 minutes. Could I run the last 4.1 miles, with some uphill to come, in less than 38 minutes? That was when I first realized that my goal was at risk.
Turning onto John Wesley Dobbs, I glided downhill to the underpass for Interstate 75-85. I could see, above the top lane of the highway, the top of the hill on the otherside of the highway. I wasn't sure at first until I realized that the ant-like figures were moving, so those were runners on Irwin Street, not the top of a building. Passing through the underpass, I mentally prepared myself for the steepest uphill section of the race. I remembered from 4 years ago a volunteer encouraging us to "Keep your heads up!", and remembered those words when it was my turn to grind my way up the hill. "Keep your head up! Shorten your stride! You've got this! You're halfway up! You're doing great! And ... and ... finally over the top!" 4 years ago, I thought that many others walked up the hill, but today almost everyone around me was still running, slowly, but running, not walking. Shortly after that ordeal, my watch sounded mile 10 in 9:17! But as I passed the mile 10 marker on the course, I saw the watch clicking toward 1:32 elapsed. 28 minutes to cover the last 5 K. Exactly the same amount of time that I ran for the first 5K on fresh legs. Now I was definitely tired.
But as I ran east on Irwin Street, away from the steep underpass, I began to feel better, a little stronger. I didn't look at my watch, continued to focus on form. Irwin Street had a tiny incline but not enough to adversely affect my running. I've noticed before that a very slight upgrade is probably ideal for my stride. As we approached the right turn at Randolph Street, a volunteer called "Up the hill!" Was that meant to be helpful or encouraging? In that moment I truly understood the phrase "It is what it is." I was still running fairly well, but was thinking of Eliud Kipchoge in his first Breaking 2 attempt in Italy, saying to his coach "We didn't do it." 2:00:25, he was so incredibly close, but didn't achieve the goal time. Fortunately, given more time to train, Kipchoge succeeded, 1:59:40 in Vienna.
A quick right onto Edgewood, then a quick left on Bradley. Another steep uphill - but there was a water stop. Thank goodness, I had a great excuse to walk up that hill, not even deviating from my plan to walk through the water stations. At the top of the hill, we turned right onto Decatur Avenue. The walk break had succeeded in restoring some equilibrium, I began to get back on pace now that we were on a level road. Mile 11, 9:33. At the mile 11 marker, my watch registered 1:41 elapsed. 2.1 miles, 19 minutes left, that meant 9:00 minute miles all the way to the finish. "I can do that" I said to myself. This is everything I’ve been working for since first week of September. A woman in front of me handed a top shirt to a man, saying "I'm going for sub-2." She looked stronger than me, but I said to myself "Me too, going for sub-2."
Turning left onto Hilliard Street, running through the MARTA tunnel, emerging with a right turn onto Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, I could see the gold dome of the Capitol building in the distance. Ahead and to the right was the Corey Tower, it seemed to be a few minutes away. Less than two minutes later, I was passing the Tower, so I guess I was running quickly enough. MLK Drive was flat enough. Approaching the I-75-85 connector, Mile 12, 9:05. That was an improvement, but there were 5 seconds that I would need to make up between now and the finish. Approaching the official mile 12 marker, my watch showed 1:50 elapsed. I did the arithmetic in my head: Average 9:10 min / mile pace to this point, 12 seconds slower than 2:00:00 pace. With 1.1 miles to run in 10 minutes or less, the 2-hour goal was still doable, but I would have to hustle.
At the same time, a woman ran up to me and said "I'm following you all the way in." She fell back as I was thinking "I'm the one who needs a pacer!" But turning onto Capitol Avenue, I knew from past experience that I had a long downhill finish ahead - just as soon I cleared the Interstate 20 overpass onto Hank Aaron Drive, due south toward the former Olympic Stadium, now Center Parc Stadium. I could see the Olympic Rings in the distance, estimated it would take 3 minutes to get there. 3 minutes ticked by and I still wasn't there. Time to accelerate. When I finally passed under the rings, my watch read 1:56:00. I wasn't sure but was concerned that if the finish line was 1/2 mile away, I was going to miss my goal by a few seconds. I wished that I had measured out the distance from the Olympic Rings landmark earlier this morning. We crossed a couple of timing mats: Were those to announce the names of incoming finishers? They weren't that close to the finish line. Oh, those were the starting line timing mats. How far to the finish? Nothing to do but lean into this final downhill section. I caught up to a group of five younger women running together, taking the entire lane. I wanted to go around but couldn't do so without leaving the lane and adding some extra steps. They broke apart to pass a slower runner. I thought about trying to pass through the gap, but then they shifted into a higher gear. I matched their tempo, now satisfied to follow them for the rest of the race.
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| The back side of the finish line, around 7:15 am |
My watch sounded mile 13 before I turned the corner onto Georgia Avenue. I didn't notice the alert but the watch recorded 8:41 for that stretch. After turning the corner, I saw the mile 13 marker, looked down at my watch, and saw 1:58:4x. "I'm going to make it!" Finally, I mentally relaxed. Remarkably, as my mind relaxed, my legs moved even faster, drawn by the magnetic pull of the finish line. I heard Ronnel announcing finishers - I looked for him on the left, then the right side of the finish line, didn't see him, but then I was over the timing mat for the finish line. I held both hands as high as possible in celebration! Then reached up and stopped the watch: 1:59:33!! I did it, I did it, I DID IT!
I turned around to see if I could recognize coming in behind me while walking backwards, but didn't see anyone familiar. The volunteers asked us to keep moving, and I decided that it was too risky to walk backwards any faster. But looking around once more, I saw Brad Blitz, then Daniel Yee, and was thrilled to share with them both "First sub-2-half in 4 years!"
The official result was available a few minutes later: 1:59:26! Hey, I beat Kipchoge's 26.2 mile time by 14 seconds - if that means anything.....LOL. Best of all, although I was tired, I wasn't injured. What a great feeling to have succeeded in this stage of the great rebuilding project! I didn't run a negative split, but given the downhill start, I was pleased with the successful execution of my race plan. And for whatever it's worth, I outran the McMillan calculated result by nearly 1 minute!
