Chisholm Trail "Virtual" Half-Marathon

In March the Chisholm Trail Half Marathon I had already signed up for was canceled without giving a virtual option. They mailed out race packets so I decided I would run my own half-marathon in the fall to earn my medal. After the terrible experience I had with the Run OK Virtual Half I ran in July and how my tempos and speedwork have gone this season, I decided not to go into the race with a time goal at all. I decided to just have fun with it. Since I averaged 7:27 pace for my 10 mile tempo for the Route 66 Marathon Relay, I decided to go out at 7:30 pace for the first mile, maybe even the first half and then try to pick it up after the turn around. I took my time getting ready for my run on Saturday morning. I was hoping for warm enough temps to wear my capri tights so I could put my water bottles in my pockets instead of wearing a fuel belt so I wasn't in a hurry to get out. I'm out of practice with running races and wasn't thinking. I only checked the weather at the start of my run instead of also at the finish like I normally would. By the half-way point of my run I was overdressed!

It felt so weird starting off my run without a warm-up and it took me a bit to get into rhythm. I hit my first mile right on 7:30 like I had planned. I wasn't looking at my watch at all though. I had my sleeves pulled down to cover my hands because I knew I'd ditch my gloves really quickly if I wore them. I just checked my mile split when I heard it beep. I realized I was wearing the race shirt from the Chisholm Trail Half without even meaning to. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've ever worn a race shirt for a race during the race itself, even though this doesn't really count as a race! I felt like I was just maintaining pace but my next few miles were 7:14, 7:15, 7:15, and 7:14. Once I hit that pace I just stayed right there and kept clicking off the miles. I had figured I'd run the entire first half closer to 7:30 pace but 7:15 pace was feeling right so I just went with it. I felt like I was still running the same pace but went through mile 6 in 7:27. This has been pretty consistent for me with how things have been going. I'll be cruising along and all the sudden without feeling like I'm struggling or slowing down, my times plummet. The nice thing is that I didn't care because I didn't have a time goal for this race. I ate a Gu at the half-way point and then turned around to head back to my car.

Mile 7 was again closer to 7:30 with a 7:29 mile. I got excited that I just had a 10k to go and was feeling really good. I started calculating what time I might finish in and figured it would be somewhere around 1:36:30 if I was able to run the 2nd half pretty close to the 1st half. Mile 8 was 7:08 and I was shocked. I knew I sped up because I was excited to be in the last 10k of the race but I would not have guessed I sped up that much. I was a little worried that faster mile was going to prove to be a mistake once I hit the last 5k of the run and my legs started to feel it. I was okay with my next 2 miles being 7:23 and 7:24. I figured I'd wait until the last 5k of the race and try to pick up the pace. A couple times during this run I got discouraged thinking that I had some long run workouts training for the marathon in the spring where I ran 12 miles of a 20 mile long run in an average of 7:19 pace and felt really good, not even like I was racing. And here I was struggling to run under 7:30 pace for a half-marathon. But I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and tried to focus on enjoying the run and told myself I'll get back there eventually.

I was excited to be in the last 5k of the race but at the same time I was starting to hurt and I knew my time wasn't going to be anything even decent for me so it was hard to push. I'm not sure what happened with mile 11 but I went through it in 7:42. I don't know if my mind was just wandering more in that section or what, but I wasn't hurting really bad or anything that mile. When I made it to the last 2 miles of the race I thought of how I was feeling and told myself I wasn't hurting anywhere as badly as I was when I ran my PR and in that race I was running completely alone from about mile 2 on. But I also told myself there was a point in hurting that much if you were going to PR, there wasn't a point in hurting that much to run maybe a few seconds faster during a mediocre half so I just kept plodding along. I've noticed the big difference in virtual vs real races for me is my mentality and how easily I give up in a virtual race where I'm always so mentally strong in an actual race. I calculated what my time would be if I finished the last 2 miles each in 7:30 and knew I'd be under 1:37 so I stuck with that as my goal for the race. I ran miles 12 and 13 in 7:27 and 7:21. I finished out the last 0.12 in 7:07 pace. Boy was I glad to be done! I finished in 1:36:49, an average of 7:23 pace per mile. This was my 21st half-marathon and 13th fastest time, so not terrible, all things considered! Up next I plan to just have fun with the winter and take some time easy. Then I'll do a 5k for the Virtual Running on Wine and Christmas Cheer race we are signed up for, probably the week of Christmas. Then a 10k at some point for the Virtual Kindness Run we are signed up for.