aka, the JG 13.1
I kept the 7-year streak going with this year's virtual race, which I ran on the Westside Beltline. The marathon training schedule (11 weeks to go!) had me down for 16 miles this weekend. I originally wanted to try for a sub-2 hour half, but after the Thanksgiving Day debacle, when I ran/walked 14 miles while dehydrated, I re-evaluated priorities. I knew that I wasn't really in shape to run 13.1 miles at a 9:09 min pace. And I also knew that if I tried and failed today, especially if I was reduced to another long walk stretch, it would be bad for my morale and possibly devastating to the marathon training cycle.
Instead I settled for a more realistic goal, and one that fit perfectly with the longer-term aim to better my 4:24 marathon personal best: to run 16 miles with a progressive strategy. The idea was to run 3 miles really easily, before the virtual race podcast began on Charge Running at 9:00 am, to practice a conservative marathon start. Then I hoped to settle into a 9:45 min / mile pace for the first 10 or so miles of the official half marathon, trying to finish more strongly for the last 3.1 miles. Today's route on the Westside Beltline required only one street crossing, at White Street. In my experience, this is never a busy road, and has a pedestrian light at the crosswalk.
I parked on Lena Street at Washington Park around 8:15 am, in plenty of time to get my gear together, do some pre-run stretches, and make sure that my shoes were tied tightly. Since the Westside Beltline is net uphill going south from the current northern terminus, I wanted to run the first easy miles uphill, starting the JG 13.1 at or near Allene Avenue near the current southern terminus. I knew that was about 3.5 miles from my car, so I was going to exceed 16 miles for the day.
Starting around 8:25 am, I ran the first mile in 10:55 minutes, working on a 4:30 run / 0:30 walk plan, true to the Galloway spirit. Despite my best intentions, I knocked out the second mile in 10:11 (was intending 11 min / mile), but slowed down in the third mile, because I had to stop and retie my left shoe! To ensure that my distance for the 13.1 mile race would conclude with me running downhill, and that the rest of my route would be ideal yet easily marked, I went a little further, past Allene Avenue, running downhill. At the Beltline exit onto University Avenue, I turned around and walked as the pre-race announcements began.
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| Started at "4", finished just north of "17" on this map. |
Shortly after 9:00 am, Barbara Galloway sounded the foghorn to start, I clicked the mile timer on my watch (marking 4 on the race map), and set off for 13.1 more miles, after a 38 minute warmup. The first race mile was fairly level, passing through a tunnel under the MARTA tracks and Lee street, concluding by running up a ramp to get to Lawton Street, 9:36. And I had maintained the 4:30 run / 0:30 walk schedule, so obviously running pretty quickly. Backing off just a bit, I ran the loop to get back onto White Street. At the intersection to get back onto the protected part of the Beltline, I had to slow down for a car to clear the intersection, but it didn't mess up my rhythm. I finished mile 2 at 9:43. That was closer to the race plan.
Around that time, the announcer called out a greeting and some cheers from Bonnie, who was spectating on the app! Her greeting coincided with Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", although that must have been pure coincidence, in combination with net downhill on my route. The trio of positive influences had me "going off of the rails on a crazy train" running 9:18 for mile 3.
I had intended to start more slowly, to put a 2-hour finish safely out of my reach by the end of the third mile. But now I found myself in a very dangerous place mentally: calculating that I could get the 2-hour finish if I ran the remaining miles at a 9:00 min / mile pace. I took a gel as I approached the northern turnaround point at Lena Street, washed it down with water, and started back up over the Martin Luther King Drive overpass. And then I noticed that my left shoe was loose. At the next walk break, I looked down, and while the knot in the left shoe had not completely unraveled, it was definitely loose. So I stopped, and retied, even more tightly. That hurt a little bit. I hoped that my feet wouldn't swell over the remaining miles, as I still had about 9 miles to go. The mile 4 alert sounded at 9:41. The pathway was noticeably uphill heading south, but I still ran mile 5 in 9:26. Nonetheless, the 2-hour finish was moving out of reach.
As I reached the White Street intersection, I saw a car coming down the street. I calculated whether or not I should stop, or push the pedestrian button, and decided that I could dash across the street in time so that neither I nor the driver needed to slow down. I made it, and it wasn't that close, but normally I am much more cautious. Up the loop onto Lawton Street, then down the ramp back onto the Beltline, I ran mile 6 in another 9:26.
At this point, I had run for 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was 57 minutes into the half marathon. I was definitely moving faster than I had planned. But running along the level Beltline (maybe it was slightly uphill) it felt good to run pretty quickly, especially with the regular walk breaks for recovery. At the southern turnaround, with no traffic on Allene Avenue, I made a big wide loop in the middle of the street, which was easier on my legs. And I knocked out mile 7 in 9:00 flat. 66 minutes into the race, I had run 9:27 min / mile pace to this stage for the race, and was now averaging sub-10 min / mile pace for the 10.5 total miles that I had already covered. Well, I do have a marathon goal pace of 9:55 min / mile.
Mile 8 was another fast one, at 9:11. Crossing White Street, I had to slow down just a bit for yet another car - I wasn't gonna risk anything this time, then I was back on the protected part of the Beltline. But now I was slowing down, without cars or intersections to blame, completing mile 9 in 9:35. Time for another gel. I hoped that the sugar would boost my energy, but finished mile 10 in 9:29 at the northern terminus of the Beltline, at Washington Park. OK, the door was definitely closed on the 2-hour finish.
The good news, really the great news, is that I had planned my route perfectly. I knew that the remainder of my race route, out and back on the protected part of the Beltline without needing to cross White Street, was 1.55 miles in each direction, which would give me 3.10 miles or 5K, exactly what I needed to finish the half marathon, and 16-1/2 miles for the day. Unfortunately, I really began to slow down now. I was running net uphill, and needed 9:50 for mile 11. But isn't that what I had planned to run all along? In that mile, Jeff Galloway was interviewing Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers, who was describing one of his Boston Marathon wins. He had dueled through the Newton Hills, trying unsuccessfully to shake an persistent opponent, who kept up with him to the top of Heartbreak Hill. With five miles to go, Bill Rodgers didn't think that he could stay in front of his opponent. He was losing the mental will to keep pressing on. But then his opponent suffered leg cramps going downhill. Bill Rodgers held on to "stumble" for the win (his word).
That story kept me moving along through my last 2 miles, although I finished mile 12 of the race in 10:03. Running more slowly at the end wasn't in the plan. But even running downhill, I couldn't increase my turnover. I had originally hoped to run the last 5K without a walk break, but in the race, I decided to stick with the 4:30 / 0:30 plan to the end. At least I didn't extend any of the walk breaks beyond 30 seconds, so that was a win. Struggling to the top of successive overpasses - and I thought this was net downhill when I mapped this out - I finally reached the top of the MLK overpass for the final time, and the mile 13 alert sounded. 10:10. My slowest mile of the half marathon race, not the fastest. But not much further to go now. Now that I was moving downhill, and could see the benches at the Washington Park terminus, I began running faster.
And right before I reached the end of the Beltline, I heard the welcome chime of my finish on the Charge Running app. Grateful to slow to a walk, I stopped my watch. The app gave me a 2:04:54 finish time, better than I had expected when I had began my day. A pleasant surprise: of the runners that began at 9 am, I was seventh! I knew that wouldn't last long, because faster runners who began a little later in the morning would soon eclipse my time. I quickly took a couple of screen shots to record the moment, before I dropped down in the standings.
Seventh place in my seventh Galloway Half Marathon race! I was happy, but pretty beaten up: after all I had covered 16.58 miles on the morning, in 2:42:54 total. That was 9:50 min / mile pace for the overall distance, even with the deliberately slow first and third miles for the day. Happily the demon of dehydration did not bother me today. I had hydrated carefully yesterday, and carried a bottle of water on my running belt today to keep taking in liquid on an unsupported course. After a few minutes of walking, and a thorough round of post-race stretches, I was in good enough shape to drive home. I dropped to 8th place by the time that I returned home (30 minute drive), and was 10th when the podcast ended at 1 pm.
When I got into the shower, I saw an ugly blister on my right big toe. I ran in some newer shoes today. I thought that I had broken them in with a couple of shorter runs over the past few weeks. Fortunately I don't get blisters very often, and I hope that it will heal quickly.
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| Still standing, slightly smiling after 16.58 miles |
