Run OK Virtual Half

The local running store whose race team I run on was putting on this virtual event. When I saw the medals I was super excited because they were so cool. I realized it would be my 20th half marathon and what a perfect medal to commemorate my 20th half! I had planned out my Boston Marathon build for the September 14th race with a 5k on the 4th of July. You had until the 5th of July to complete the virtual race so I decided to sign up for the half and use it as a tune-up for the marathon and to judge where I was at with my training. Then they cancelled Boston and switched to a virtual event for that race so I decided to put marathon training on hold and focus my training toward this half. Everything was going well until about 2 weeks out from the race when I started struggling with fatigue and dizzy spells along with light-headedness. I'd put in some strong tempos with 6 miles at 6:51 pace and then following that up with 7 miles at 7:09 when it was much warmer and more humid and I hadn't fully recovered from doing speed work in over 100 degrees a couple days beforehand. Two weeks out from the race I had planned an 8 mile tempo. I took off on the tempo and just didn't feel right. Things quickly started going downhill and I decided to scrap the tempo at 5 miles to save my legs for the race. That convinced me the race likely wasn't going to go how I hoped.

Originally I thought it would be cool to run my first ever 1:33 half. I've run 1:30 once, 1:31, 1:32, and 1:34 three times each, and 1:35 and 1:36 once a piece. So from 1:30-1:36, I'm only missing a 1:33. Then after my tempo at 7:09 pace I figured I'd shoot for sub-1:35. After my failed tempo I just hoped to maybe pull off sub-7:30 pace which was the pace I was training at for Boston when it was supposed to happen in April. While that was a bit discouraging, I knew I had to accept that whatever was going on with my body was causing me to really struggle with my running. I did hold onto hope that a couple weeks of easier running would bring me back around. I got up at 5am and was off and running a little before 6am. It was 75 degrees with 90% humidity and a 74 degree dew point. I knew the weather wasn't ideal and I was kicking myself a little bit for not running the half earlier in the summer before it got so darn hot and humid, but there was nothing to be done about that now!

I thought about taking off at 7:30 pace and working my way down to a faster pace. Starting out conservatively is always smart, but I hated to hold back too much at the beginning in case things ended up going better than expected. There was still that part of me that believed I might be able to pull off something decent. I decided to take off and just run what felt right. I went through my first mile in 7:11 and figured maybe things were going to go better than I expected. Mile 2 was 7:06 and then mile 3 was 7:11. I was excited that maybe I would be able to pull off a 1:33. I definitely felt like I was running a pace that I could maintain and was confident I would be able to pick up the pace for the 2nd half. Miles 4 and 5 still felt good at 7:16 and 7:19. I was approaching 6 miles and the turn around and started to fade a bit. Mile 6 was 7:23. I turned around at 6.55 miles and ate my Gu. I hoped once I ate my Gu I would get a 2nd wind but realized that wasn't going to happen when I hit mile 7 in 7:32. At this point I had a nice layer of sweat all over my skin but it wasn't evaporating so I wasn't getting much relief. I still felt okay but not great and I knew the rest of the race was going to be a struggle.

Mile 8 was 7:30 and I told myself to get back under 7:30. I was excited when I went through mile 9 in 7:25. I figured I'd be able to hold under 7:30 pace for the rest of the race. Thomas planned to meet me at the 10 mile mark so he could run the last 5k with me. When I started to struggle I began to count down the miles until I'd get to run with Thomas. I'd tell myself, "Just 2 more miles to Thomas." I hoped once I met up with Thomas I'd get a pick me up running with someone and things would turn around a bit for me. Then mile 10 was 7:40 and I really started to feel rough. I was really excited to see Thomas waiting for me by the trail! He took off with me and I explained what pace I had been hitting and what I had dropped off to. I started breaking out in goosebumps and felt really weird around in here. It was nice to have Thomas with me but I was still having a very hard time. I've never wanted to walk during a half more in my life! We went through mile 11 in 7:48 and that was all due to me struggling, it had nothing to do with Thomas taking a bit to get down to pace or anything. Mile 12 was back down to 7:40. With a mile to go Thomas told me he was struggling and I was on my own for the last mile. I couldn't wait to be finished and tried to push as much as I could. I went through mile 13 in 7:30. Then I took off going faster and knew I needed to keep an eye on my watch so I knew when I was finished. I planned to go a bit over 13.1 to 13.12 or so to make sure I actually finished a half marathon. I turned the corner and looked down at my watch, surprised to see I was at 13.12 so I stopped my watch and started walking. I ran the last portion in 7:13 pace.

I walked back to Thomas and we walked a bit of a cool down together. This was one of the least fun halves I've run. But I pushed through to finish which took more toughness than some of my fastest times. And now I've run a 1:37 so I've finished in every time from 1:30-1:38 now except for 1:33 as I was also missing a 1:37 so there's that. I finished in 1:37:29, an average of 7:26 pace per mile. I wasn't planning to run the virtual Boston when they announced it. Then my brother-in-law, Paul, mentioned it would be cool to have the swag from what would likely be the only ever virtual Boston Marathon. I hadn't thought about that at all. I just thought about the fact that I didn't want to run a virtual marathon, haha! My friend Sara is doing a Beyond Boston series and after reading multiple people voice the same sentiments as Paul, I was a bit more interested. When the details about the virtual race were emailed out and I saw it was only $50, I suddenly really wanted to do it! So after finishing this race I sat down and planned out a training block consisting of all easy runs working on getting up to one 20 mile long run before September 14th. It only gives me 10 weeks to train for the virtual Boston, but I don't plan to try to actually race the marathon. I just want to finish it, the same kind of mentality I had for the 2017 Route 66 Marathon. I think it will be good for me to focus on easy running to give my body time to recover from whatever I have going on right now. If I were focusing on a shorter distance, I'd be tempted to run some speed work and tempos. Training for virtual Boston, I'll focus on the long runs and take everything else easy. If I feel like doing a little speed work, I can, but mostly I'll just take it easy from here on out. I think that's just what I need!