The Syracuse Half Marathon

I decided to keep my mileage pretty low this past week because I planned on ending week 21 with the Syracuse Half Marathon. I did set a personal record for my half marathon time, but I was not entirely happy with how my race went. I kept changing my mind all week about what I was expecting out of this run. I had a goal of aiming for a 2:10 finish earlier in the week, but by Sunday morning I decided that I was just going to let the Syracuse Half be a regular training run. However, the runner's high from the race day excitement quickly changed my expectations once the race began. I had the 2:10 goal in mind still, but I just couldn't push it out yesterday. Even though I set a personal record yesterday, I was both happy and unhappy with my race performance and here are the reasons why:

Reasons Why I Was Unhappy With My Half Marathon Race
1.) If you are a teacher, then you understand how busy and long the month of March can be. I have had some sort of club or activity after school 3-4 days a week for the past couple of months. When I registered for the Syracuse Half, I did not think that this would be an issue because my training was still going well. However, a student council dance and the mathalon competition both fell on this weekend. This weekend consisted of a student council dance Friday night, an hour drive to mathalon on Saturday morning, all Saturday morning at the competition, an hour drive back from the competition, an almost 2 hour drive up to Syracuse after and spending Saturday night with my parents.

2.) In addition to very little downtime, I did not get much sleep over the weekend. By the time that 6am arrived Sunday morning, my body told me that I should never pack so much into a race weekend. I was very tired Sunday morning, but your body quickly forgets the tired feeling once you start running.

3.) I followed the rules and did not bring an iPod to listen to for the race. There was an email that was put out saying no headphones allowed and I did not dare to bring any seeing as I almost got kicked out of a race for that once. However, most people ignored the rules, listened to headphones anyways and no one got disqualified for it. I did have my iPhone in my pocket, but I did not have my headphones. I wish that I had brought them with me because I always listen to music when I am running alone and it helps me to run faster.

4.) There was a lot of uphill running during the first couple of miles of the race. Now this should have been easy for me because I have done a lot of training in hilly areas since there are plenty of hills around here. The inclines in the race were more like speed bumps, but were very much unexpected. I had no idea of the course ahead of time so I went in with the mindset of running an extremely flat course. The inclines slowed down my pace a little bit.

5.) My Mizuno Wave Elixir 7's are extremely worn out and are ready to be retired. By the time that I realized how worn out my kicks were, it was too late to break in a new pair before the race. So I ran my last race in my Mizuno's and I was definitely sore by the time that I got to the finish. I could feel my ankles rolling in during parts of the race, which can easily be corrected by a new pair of kicks.

6.) Chaffing ..... I do not need to get into the details on that one!

7.) I could not find a pace that I was comfortable with for most of the race. I had a very slow start and I never made up for the time that I lost at the beginning of the race. I was glad that I had such a slow start, but I expected to pick up the pace enough at the end to reach my end goal. I know that my splits were probably all over the place, but I could never quite get to the pace that I wanted.

8.) I hit a wall around mile 11 and was not sure that I was going to make it. I was worn out and my body was tired from the extremely long weekend. I had run 15 miles the week before so this should have been no problem for me. However, I did not give my body enough rest before the race so this was expected. I wanted to just stop and walk, but I knew that it was not going to be an option. It's funny how 11 miles seems pretty easy and the last 2 miles just drag on.

9.) When I saw the finish line, I felt like I was 5 miles away and was never going to reach the finish. That half mile, or less, felt like the longest half mile of my life and I was not sure that it was ever going to end. I did not have enough energy left in me to kick it out in the end and sprint to the finish like I normally do.

10.) I was aiming for a 2:10 finish, but was only able to push out a 2:14:50 finish. I had run a 2:08 half marathon in a training run 2 weeks ago so I thought that a 2:10 was a reasonable goal. Even though I still had a PR yesterday, I was just a little bit disappointed in not reaching my goal.

Reasons Why I Was Happy With My Half Marathon Race
1.) I had a concussion less than 2 months ago and have only been back into running for about a month. I was not sure that I would be able to get back to where I needed to be in my training. I have successfully returned to where I needed to be and the half marathon was a perfect check point for me in my training.

2.) I sign up for most races and run them alone so I was extremely excited to see some familiar faces this weekend. I arrived at the Oncenter around 7:30 and saw Lauren, who I went to college with. We got talking for quite awhile before the race began and we saw Molly, who also went to college with us, when we headed out to the start line. Molly is also training for the Buffalo Marathon and her blog is the one that inspired me to begin my own running blog.

3.) I started the race with Molly and her friend Steph and we were in the back of the pack. There had to be less than 10 runners behind us at that point and none of us realized that there were so many hardcore runners there. Molly is definitely the most excited runner that I have ever met and that helped pep us all up. We parted ways shortly before mile one and I sped up to a quicker pace.

4.) Since I started in the back of the pack, I was able to pass many people during the run. I like to start out races a bit slower so that I can pass people during a race. I also like to slowly increase my speed during a race and that helps me to save my energy for the end of the race. All of the hill training that I have done also helped me to pass many people and made me feel pretty good about my race.

5.) I had the most delicious Raspberry Chocolate Gu around mile 6 or 7. I was extremely happy that there were Gu Packets or Gu Brew drinks at several of the water stops. I just began using Gu a couple of weeks ago during long runs and that little energy boost during a run sure does help.

6.) I was unfamiliar with the course ahead of time so it made the race go by much more quickly. I was surprised at how quickly each mile went by and I was extremely happy to have a change of scenery.

7.) Although I thought the 30 degree weather was going to suck to run in, I think that the colder weather helped quicken my pace a bit. It began to warmup while we were running and once the sun came out it was a pretty good temperature for a race.

8.) I always really enjoy the camaraderie of other runners on race day. Runners are some of the nicest people that you will ever meet and they can be so encouraging during a race. It's so great to have other people cheering you on and seeing so many people stick around the finish line after they are done running.

9.) My favorite part of any race is always the finish line. I love hearing my name announced as I come across the finish line and then having a brand new medal placed around my neck. The great thing about running a half marathon is that everyone gets a medal. I am now the proud owner of 5 half marathon medals because 13.1 miles is a pretty big deal.

10.) This was my 5th official half marathon that I have ever run and it was my fastest one yet. I have set a personal record in every half marathon that I have ever run in and yesterday was no different. I finished the Syracuse Half Marathon in 2:14:50, which is a personal best by more than 2 minutes.

There are 9 weeks of training left for the Buffalo Marathon and I am ready for whatever these next 2 months may have in store. I know that this is not going to be easy at all because I will be running further than I have ever run before every week over the next several weeks. I am a little nervous because I have many trips home planned over the next couple of months. It will be a little difficult to get a double digit run in when travel weekends are already so short to begin with. I will need to be a little creative with my training, but I cannot let myself skip or shorten any of the long runs. On the plus side, I am looking forward to having a few long runs through the streets that I grew up on. These runs will not only be a nice change in scenery, but they will also be much flatter than what I have been training in. The Buffalo Marathon is relatively flat for the most part so it will be good to get some good runs in on flatter land. I am also excited to ditch my Mizuno Wave Elixir 7's and begin running in my brand new Mizuno Wave Elixir 8's. I bought my new Mizuno's at Fleet Feet this weekend as a gift to myself for my mathalon team's 3rd place finish and my PR in the Syracuse Half. I did buy the sneakers on Saturday, but I knew that I would get a PR on Sunday. My old Mizuno's were really worn out and leaving me feeling sore after every long run. I am excited to break in my new kicks and to run my longest runs yet. Here's a glance at what week 21 was like as I head into some of the toughest weeks of training yet:

Week 21
3/19/13 - 3.2 miles in 31:14 (9:46 min/mi pace)
3/20/13 - 5 miles in 47:35 (9:31 min/mi pace)
3/24/13 - SYRACUSE HALF MARATHON - 13.1 miles in 2:14:50 (10:18 min/mi pace)

282 miles complete in 44:06:17 and only 61 days until conquering 26.2 miles!