An Extra Race Day

Over the past couple weeks, I've been kicking myself for not signing up for the BMW Marathon Series sooner, as it is now sold out. So, naturally, I started looking up other races just to see what was out there and stumbled across the Brooklyn Ice Cream Social Half Marathon on August 23rd.

The stars were really aligning. My long runs were around 9 miles at the time, so by race week it lined up nicely with marathon training. Being in Brooklyn made it easy to get to, and surprisingly, my brother was on board to run too. On Monday, we signed up.

I was very excited going into it this race. For one, if I was going to keep spending my weekends planning for a long run, I might as well get a medal for it. Two, I knew I was decently prepared. Three, my long run was supposed to be 12.3 miles, so I got to feel like an overachiever. And lastly, running a race is way more fun than a normal training run.

Surprisingly, I didn't overthink this run during the week. On Friday, I worked from home, went on a walk, and mostly forgot to do much prep. I set out my clothes, carb-loaded on pasta, and called it a night by 9:45 with my alarm set for 5 a.m. The next morning, toast with banana, coffee, and out the door by 5:30 for a 35-minute ride to Prospect Park. I was buzzing with race-day energy. My brother, not so much. I may have been annoying him, but I was having a fantastic time.

When we arrived at the park, it was 6:15, 65 degrees out, and the sun was just starting to rise: It couldn't have been a more perfect morning. We had a ton of extra time as the bib line wasn't very long, so we ended up hanging in the grass for an hour. Silver lining of this is we had enough time to stretch.

Pre-Race Mindset

I had thought a lot about my pace. This wasn't a recovery or a typical long run; it was a race, so all my prior discussion about just "cruising" went out the window (for me). I had recently remembered my New Year's Resolution: a sub-2hr half marathon. When I signed up for this race, I thought that maybe I could achieve it. But then, right before we headed to the starting line, I looked at the splits of my last half and realized it didn't seem doable. At the time I wrote the resolution, I hadn't planned on training for another full marathon, so it was reasonable then. However, I haven't been training for speed, only endurance and consistency, and when I realized what pace I'd need to run to actually hit a sub-2, I decided not to go for it. It may sound negative, but honestly, I knew it was unlikely and didn't want to push myself too hard when this isn't the main event. I did come up with a gameplan though. I wouldn't check my watch at all until I hit 10 miles. If then it looked like I could do it, I'd go for it. If not, I'd just run however I can.

Based on the way I'm writing this, it seems like I'm going to say that I either indeed accomplished my resolution or that this race went terribly, but neither of those occurred. It was a solid race. That's all. Not my best and far from my worst (a story for another time), but great for what it was.

The Race

The course was beautiful. I'd never been to Prospect Park, but I'll surely be going back. It was filled with perfect green trees and lakes and a perfect running path. The route was four loops - nice for familiarity, slightly annoying because of the hill I had to repeat three more times.

At the start, I intentionally kept a slower pace. The excitement of being in a race, combined with weaving through other runners and the overall positive atmosphere, can easily lead you to run faster with the crowd. I know I can get carried away, so I tried to stay on one side and just focus on staying steady. The first three miles were fine, not as easy as past half marathons, but I kept reminding myself I could finish. The longest run this year has been 10 miles, so 13 felt aggressive.

I mostly focused on my music, the surroundings, and Coach Bennett. I did choose to do the "Half Marathon Run" which was actually supposed to be my run for next week. The good part was I was doing the correct distance; the bad news was it wasn't specifically a "race" run. I could've chosen to do that instead, but it wouldn't have been a part of my "program," and I like seeing all the stats of training together. So, I still listened to Coach, but it was a little different because he was focused on a long run while I was focused on a race run.

For the majority of the run, I felt fine. However, the number of times I've mentioned "my breathing was under control" in these blogs is roughly equal to how many times I lost control during this race. You should've heard me after the hill. I actually had to tell myself out loud, "Alexia, pull it together." This hill was deceptive; it didn't look steep and barely seemed like a hill. With the winding road and the beautiful trees, you didn't realize you were gradually climbing until you were halfway up and realized you've slowed down and felt as though your lungs have stopped working. At first, I was so thrown by how heavy I was breathing because I really hadn't noticed the ascent, but once I realized it, I felt a little better about myself. However, like I said, I had to do it 3 more times. Somehow, I never really prepared myself and had the same reaction every time.

On top of me fighting this hill, at around 8 miles, my right knee and my left hamstring tightened up. Not in a "Oh, hopefully that loosens up" way but more a "I hope my leg doesn't snap" type of way. Unfortunately, I am hard-headed and refused to stop.

At 10 miles, I finally checked my watched. While I was happy to see my pace, I knew I couldn't do sub-2hrs. So, I decided to continue with what I was doing until I hit 11.5 miles. At that point, I decided to push a little harder and at 12.5 miles I started running as fast as I could.

I ended the race feeling good. The only bad news was that because I was so focused on the sub-2hr prior to the run, I had forgotten that I didn't actually need sub-2 to hit a PR. I ended the run only a couple minutes past my best. But it's not all bad news. It's actually not bad news at all. I think the saying "Comparison is the thief of joy" is probably the biggest theme of this race. I should've never even thought about the New Year's Resolution going into this run. It was a fantastic experience, and I ended up averaging 9'30 - a pace I haven't run for this distance in a long time. And, when I looked at my splits, I saw that I ran the last mile at an 8'50 and the last 0.31 (because races lie to you and you always run further than the expected distance) at a 7'19. Now that is a large accomplishment for me.

Post-Race

2 Eggs, 2 Sausages, and 3 Banana Nut Hot Cakes from Breakfast by Salt's Cure

Afterwards, we grabbed apples, ice cream, and then headed to my favorite breakfast spot in New York. I ate an ungodly amount of food, went home, showered, took a nap, watched a movie, and wasted the rest of the afternoon. By 6, I had just enough energy to pick up sushi and sit on my rooftop - a perfect way to end the day. Later, another movie and bed by 10:30. Exhausted but happy.

Run #31: Saturday, August 23rd - Half Marathon: 13.31 mi 9'29 Pace