Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon

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Location:

Snoqualmie,WA,

Member Since:

Jan 31, 2008

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

Marathon PR: 4:17 at Portland Marathon, Oct. 2007

5K PR 24:37 2009

10K PR 52:58 2010

Have run 22 marathons to date.

No injuries, ever.   :)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for Boston (4:05 for my age/gender) - or, perhaps, to use my desire for a BQ as a way to get in the hated speed work so I don't just get slower and slower over the years.  This goal is "under (re)construction" right now, until I figure out whether it is truly what I want. :) 


Long-Term Running Goals:

To continue learning about myself and about running, and to enjoy being a fit, happy runner for life.   To always know why I am running and the best way to get the most (both mentally and physically) out of my runs.  To keep a sense of humor and remain optimistic about myself as a runner.  To enjoy running more and more with every passing year. 

Personal:

Baby boomer generation.  Jogged a little in my 20's and 30's.  Started running seriously in 2002.  Low-carb runner since January 2010. 

I love long runs and cold, cloudy weather.  I don't believe in "junk miles."  I am an optimist.  I adore dark chocolate, fog, my family, and knitting -- not necessarily in that order.  

"As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are."  -- Joan Benoit Samuelson 


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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Brooks ST3 Lifetime Miles: 891.35
Vibram Five Fingers KSO Lifetime Miles: 23.77
Brooks ST3 II Lifetime Miles: 965.17
Lunaracers II Lifetime Miles: 198.23
Mizuno Wave Universe 3 Lifetime Miles: 104.14
Asics Piranha Lifetime Miles: 536.83
RunAmocs (Softstar) Lifetime Miles: 16.23
Piranha II Lifetime Miles: 219.53
Race: Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:56:13, Place in age division: 6
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.438.105.000.0014.53

Race start  7:30 AM  58F w/ FOG!!!! at the start, sunny and 67F at the finish.

Executive Report (caution, exclamation point abuse ahead):  UNDER TWO HOURS!!  (A first!) And a 6 minute PR! With hills!! Five of my miles at or below what I consider to be a “tempo run.”   I only pause occasionally in my incessant grinning, to facilitate a few tears of joy.

I left home at 4:30 AM in total darkness to catch the early shuttles from Tacoma to the race start in Gig Harbor.  I got an awesome free parking space just two blocks from the finish.  I don’t believe in omens at all, but in hindsight it’s pretty fun to pretend that’s what it was.  And then another one: fog! As the shuttle approached the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the previously clear skies suddenly had a bit of low clouds about, and next thing you know - fog!  I wonder where I can purchase a bumper sticker that says “i (heart) fog.”

But not everyone likes fog, the poor dears.  I distinctly heard some complaining from the seat behind me, and our bus driver was having trouble finding the way.  I knew this shindig was “by the airport” (a very small airport  in Gig Harbor), but it turns out that the start is IN the airport.  Not such a good feeling, to be lost in the fog and suddenly be passing small aircraft... visions of wandering onto a landing strip tried to break into my fog-induced calm.

But we made it there all right.  The packet pick up was inside a hangar - how cool is that?  A small plane and a helicopter sat nearby as I waited in line.  I soon saw AuntieEm and another Ravelry friend. It was actually COLD, with a breeze and the fog.  What a happy feeling, after the 100+ temps this week.  

I had 2 trips to the Honey Buckets, 1 to the woods (long lines at the HBs!), and warmed up with 1.43 of jogging and some drills.  I joined the crowd at the start 5 minutes before gun time, but the race was another 10 minutes late.  All the while, there is a loudspeaker up near the front, which sounds (as it always does) like, “Wah wor ver har her wah wor race ver raha werwa roh...”  What? Something about the race?  When will they learn we cannot hear anything past the first 10 bodies?

Course map is here: http://tacomanarrowshalf.com/map.html, but the elevation chart that accompanies it seems quite inaccurate. For one thing, it appears to follow terra firma under the water instead of over the bridge!

(1) 9:00  Gun goes off, and despite the fact that I’m lined up appropriately I am surrounded by - walkers!  Gaa!  The first mile was quite crowded, so I went ahead and did a bit of weaving.  I felt really good, but tried not to spend too much energy playing dodge-the-jogger.
(2) 8:27  We were running on a highway through very tall conifer forests, full of fog.  :D  Absolutely beautiful; classic Pacific Northwest. Bit of downhill here and a turn onto the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.  Bit of downhill in this mile.
(3) 9:00  The bridge is about a mile long and the first half goes uphill of course. It actually felt like a longer segment than half to me, but that may have been an illusion.  There was a cross wind on the bridge that was fairly strong here. Had to be careful with those cowboy-sneezes.
(4) 9:01  We finished the bridge and immediately had another hill to climb.  I still felt extremely zippy, and I wasn’t sure how long the fog would last, so I kept my pace up a bit higher than I normally would on a hill.  We crossed a freeway and leveled out a bit as we headed into a residential neighborhood.
(5) 10:07  More hill, and my slowest mile. I feel discouraged. I say a bad word. Repeatedly. I begin to question whether I had made the right choice to push up that earlier hill.  I had harbored a “best” goal of going sub-2, but this is way too early to feel this tired. I decide to just do my best and stop looking at the watch.
(6) 8:51 Things felt better here, and I rallied.  We were out of the neighborhood diversion and there was a bit of downhill.  Here we ran on a bike path along the side the freeway. If it weren’t for the lovely fog, I would have really hated this.  The path here was mostly flat with some undulations. 
(7) 8:48  I started to pass slower people, always finding a little hidden energy whenever I’m boxed into a group of runners.  About this time, I started sensing a pain on the outside of my foot, at the base of the big toe. It feels like... a blister. But I don’t get blisters.  I begin sending strongly-worded memos to my foot, hoping it will remember company policy and stop hurting.
(8) 8:45  I definitely have a blister.  I say another bad word. Also, I am getting hotter, so I start pouring water on my head at each aid station, which feels wonderful. I notice my fingers have swollen up and my face is scratchy with salt, but I don’t have any nausea yet. Fog has become more of a low cloud.
(9) 9:07  We ran a diversion through Cheney Stadium, our only bit of running on dirt (inside the stadium).  The stadium was mostly empty and music was playing for us. That was nice, but something about it reminded me of the empty hotel in The Shining, and I was glad to get out of there.  
(10) 8:38  At this point I really wanted to stop and get something on my blister. I also wanted to use the Honey Bucket, but we were so close and I still felt I was running well.  A bit of a self-pep-talk convinced me that I would be fine; moreover, I’d be happier later if I just toughed it out.
(11) 9:16 There goes the cloud cover. The wretched sun came out and the path went steeply uphill again.  Good thing I had finished the should-I-stop debate from mile 10.  A few Marathon Maniacs passed me here (this race was a reunion race for them).  Dead bird in the middle of the bike path. The uphill was mercifully short.  
(12) 8:22  We got off the bike path here and ran through a very ugly industrial area. The sun beat down and the new black asphalt felt like an oven. There was also a wicked-steep downhill here that I was glad to put behind me.  Early in this mile, one of the M. Maniacs caught up with me a chatted a bit; I was wearing my Big Sur shirt and he had run it twice. A casual conversation turned into a jolt of energy when he said, “yeah, we’ll break 2 for sure.”  We will?  I had stopped looking at the Garmin and had been running by feel for at least 3 miles. “Oh yeah. You could jog it in and still make it.”  Words cannot express what that did for me.  I picked up the pace just as the terrain started to slope downward. There will be no “jogging it in.”
(13) 8:27    My blister hurt and my legs felt a bit weak, but I had plenty left in the fuel department.  Except for a bit of rough road and a short downhill section that was so steep I had to actually slow down, this was a very happy mile.

(Final .1 kick) 7:58  There it is.  A “one” on the clock...  So happy. So very happy.

Award was a commemorative drinking glass.  Found AuntieEm and shared congratulations. Good band playing.  Blister attended to by nice med-man.  Happy ending!

Regarding my Victoria Marathon in October ...  Don't say it!  You can think it, but don't say it.  Really, please don't.  I just want to know what anyone's opinions are about the most important kind(s) of workout(s) I need to be doing next.  During the last half of this race, I was thinking what I always think during a half-m: it's a good thing I don't have to do this for 26 miles.  So a 9:00 pace is going to have to feel easier than it did today, or at least not horrid.  Four hours is just too long to "tough out" a too-fast effort.  So tempo runs & MP runs? More V02?  All of it?  I'm inclined to focus on tempo and MP runs, but maybe I should just keep everything in the mix, ala Hudson.  Mark your ballot - but don't say it.

Nike Lunar Racer Miles: 14.00
Comments
From redrooster on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 16:35:50 from 71.219.144.7

great job Sno, a PR, and after that nasty heat wave, way to go!! you will smoke the Victoria marathon!!

From Snoqualmie on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 16:47:07 from 67.171.56.164

Don't say it!! (But thanks!)

From JD on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 17:19:25 from 32.178.119.130

Yeah!!!

Great report too! But, yeah!!

(IT) Not saying.

From Mark on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 17:19:29 from 173.168.88.68

Great job! I saw the time on the list of race reports, and immediately thought, finally - you got the race time that you deserved from all of your hard training in the rain, wind, snow, fog, and whatever else has been thrown at you!

From Dale on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 17:19:52 from 69.10.215.11

Congrats on the sub-2 finish & PR! Well done!

First of all, the 9:00/mi pace will feel easier without all the hills. I think some fast repeats to make 9:00/mi feel slow early on would help (call it VO2 if you must, but it's just speed), along with some hill sprints for strength, gradually changing into longer/slower intervals. Plus, make some of your long runs fast finish w/ a few MP miles and 1-2 10K pace miles on the end, gradually getting longer. You've got the endurance and obviously the speed....you just need to make the pace feel easy and work on maintaining the pace when tired.

Great job and soak it in for now!

From Bill Mandler on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 17:43:43 from 72.24.152.3

Congratulations on the PR, and 6 minutes to boot!!! You should be very encouraged that your last 2 miles were your best miles of the race. It shows your endurance is absolutely where it needs to be.

I would recommend some tempo runs once per week to help make your pace easier in the race. If you know you have run 8:30 miles deep in to a run, a 9:00 pace will be achievable to maintain.

Again....GREAT JOB!!!

From Carolyn in Colorado on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 17:52:33 from 24.8.167.243

Yeeee Haaaah! Way to go Snoqualmie! I knew you had it in you.

Not saying it, and I'm not the expert, but the one thing I really remember from Hudson is that MP runs are very important at the end of marathon training. And I think that dovetails nicely with the fast finish runs a la McMillan.

From Kelli on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 18:43:35 from 71.219.100.174

I am NOT SAYING IT!!! But, way to go today! You had such an awesome race, we are all very proud of you and how hard you work! You earned that great race!!!!

And NO ONE abuses exclamation points like I do, so no worries.

I am so not good at advice. You know what you are doing way more than I do. I know our group is doing the LONG workout (up to two hours twice a week with hills one day and speed the next). They seem to know what they are doing, so I just follow them.

YEAH!!!!!! I am so happy for you today.

From auntieem on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 19:33:18 from 67.182.145.8

SNO! Still feeling so happy for your success! Also I'm laughing out loud about how different our race reports are concerning the weather- HAHA. I was so so happy to feel the blessed sun on my back in those last few miles!

Did you see your place in your division yet? I found some results, but they don't have the official times. Just look where you are.

From Metcalf Running on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 19:51:04 from 97.126.147.83

Whoot Whoot!!! That is a fantastic race report and incredible time!! A huge congratulations to you :)

From Snoqualmie Ridge Runner on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 19:54:50 from 67.185.148.81

Dude!!! I mean Sno, that is pretty amazing! Great job...that's close to my time for a half marathon. I'm extremely happy for you!!!

From allie on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 22:54:54 from 208.110.151.113

congrats on a huge PR! way to go! a great report, as always. this sounds like a very cool race.

From nicole on Sat, Aug 01, 2009 at 23:01:04 from 99.204.99.160

You dominate!!! you should be so proud of yourself! enjoy this incredible race for awhile!!

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Aug 03, 2009 at 13:49:35 from 192.168.1.1

Congratulations on the breakthrough!

I think you have sub-4:00 in you, you just need to learn to not be afraid to run that pace early on and do not wonder if you can do it until you really honestly cannot. Then try again, keep trying until it happens.

Maybe find a marathon that has a 4:00 pace group and run with them.

From Sean Sundwall on Mon, Aug 03, 2009 at 14:38:25 from 209.67.107.10

FANTASTIC JOB! We missed you at running club but thrilled that you had such a great race and that the weather was better than had been predicted earlier in the week. I wish I could have been there to run it as well.

Let's talk on Saturday about Victoria.

From Snoqualmie on Mon, Aug 03, 2009 at 17:24:03 from 67.171.56.164

Thank you, everyone! Thank you for sharing in my joy and encouraging me.

Sean - I would LOVE to talk with you on Saturday. I've been holding off because it seems like you are so very busy. See you then. :)

From april27 on Tue, Aug 04, 2009 at 15:12:43 from 143.43.6.59

Sno--Wow! I just read aunts report so then I had to come see yours and I was like Wow ! sub 2! that is sooo awesome! All that speedwork and hills are certainly paying off. And I love the commentary about the blisters...

From Snoqualmie on Tue, Aug 04, 2009 at 15:20:18 from 67.171.56.164

Thanks, April! To get a result like this, that I didn't fully expect, is quite encouraging indeed!!

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