Joplin Memorial Run

When I decided on Grandma's Marathon for June, I knew I wanted to run a half-marathon during my build. I've run the marathon relay (they no longer offer a marathon, otherwise this might have been my spring marathon instead of Grandma's) and the half-marathon relay in Joplin, but I've never run an individual race at the event and have always wanted to. I decided that the Joplin Half-Marathon would fit nicely into my build for Grandma's. I knew from running the relays that it's a decently hilly course and looking at other people's Strava data for the race, it showed over 500 feet of elevation gain. That's a little over 100 feet more than Route 66 has so I knew my time may not be as fast as I'd like, but I was still hoping to average under 7:20 pace and sneak under 1:36 officially for the first time since 2019. I ran the Zoo Run 10k with an average of 6:56 pace and I usually slow down 20 seconds per mile from a 10k to a half. I figured I was capable of 7:15 pace on a flat course. The Zoo Run is super flat so comparing it to a hilly half, I knew I'd likely be over 20 seconds per mile slower unless I pulled out some race day magic which is always a possibility. We drove to my parents' house Friday evening and spent the night with them. I got up at 5am so I would have time to do a short yoga video and get ready before we left at 5:45. Ty was sitting on the stairs in the dark with his phone illuminating his face as I came up the stairs finishing my ebook (which was a suspense/thriller) as I walked and scared me! As we were leaving I saw a piece of paper taped next to the door so Ty turned on his phone flashlight so I could read it. It was a note from my parents. Ty drove me and the kids stayed home with mom and dad. Our timing was perfect, we got parked, I took a quick porta potty break, and then it was time to head to the chute. 

Picture of the note mom and dad taped to the door for me to see as I left.

We lucked out with some chillier weather for the race. It was 48 degrees at the start. I wore my singlet, shorts, headband, and gloves for the race. Ty stood right by me outside the chute so I wore my sweats up until 5 minutes before race start and then I passed them over to him. The half-marathon, 5k, and 10k all started together so it was hard to tell where I needed to start based off looking at the people around me. Ty thought I was too far back so I moved up a little. We took off and it felt weird to run faster than normal. My watch didn't start going right away, so I thought I hadn't gotten it started and hit it again which paused it so I had to re-start it. I had a hard time settling into the right pace. I went through the first mile in 7:32 and was immediately discouraged. Then I reminded myself that typically during marathon training, I have a hard time getting down to a faster pace at the beginning of the race, but finish strong. The 5k turned around at a mile and a half and it was fun to see the runners ahead of me going back. I passed a couple women in this section. One of them was wearing a skirt so she stuck in my mind. I was pleased when I went through the 2nd mile in 7:15. I got to see Ty on Main Street around in there and threw my gloves to him. Then mile 3 was 6:58. The first mile had some uphill and then miles 2 and 3 were mostly downhill. A little after the 3 mile mark the 10k runners split off to turn around. I saw my friend, Kevin, running next to another guy tied for 2nd place. Miles 4 and 5 were a bit flatter and there was an out and back section during mile 5 which was nice. I cheered for people I knew who were ahead of me and I saw there was only one woman ahead of me and the woman I passed wearing the skirt was in 3rd place behind me and I had a sizable lead on her. I got to see my friend Kirsten and she cheered for me super loudly which was fun!

Tossing my gloves to Ty during mile 3.

Seeing Ty again, maybe around mile 5.

I was excited to see him!

Showing off my fingernails and one of my fingers blends in with the background so if you zoom in, it looks like I'm flipping him off. I was not!

At the end of mile 5 we went up the big hill at Landreth Park that's part of the Turkey Trot 5k. It definitely didn't feel as tough as it does during that race, but after that most of the mile was up a slight incline. I had been calculating how much under 7:20 pace I was and knew going into mile 6 that I was 33 seconds under pace. Then I hit mile 6 in 7:36 and mile 7 in 7:37 and I stopped calculating. Both those miles, it felt like we were either going up a big hill or running up a slight incline the whole time. I let go of thinking about my pace and focused on doing what I could do. I saw Ty quite a few times and my favorite was crossing a bridge when I wasn't expecting it. Around mile 7 I decided I'd throw my headband to Ty if I saw him again. I saw him at mile 8 and tossed it to him across the street and he caught it. I didn't let the fact that I'd had 2 miles over 7:30 pace back to back get me down, but I did get it in my head that I likely wasn't going to be able to break 1:36 because I knew according to the elevation chart mile 8 and 9 were basically uphill the whole way. Mile 8 I was back under 7:20 with a 7:17 mile. I got excited to just have 5 miles left. Around in here a guy came up beside me and then passed me. After he passed me, he didn't pull away and I decided to stick with him and let him help pull me along. Miles 8 and 9 did have a lot of elevation gain but I didn't think it was as bad as what it looked like on the elevation chart. It was quite a bit more gradual than I was expecting. I went through miles 9 and 10 in 7:26 and 7:23. 

The last time I saw Ty.

He caught me going through a water stop, I wasn't expecting to see him again and I almost missed him, but he yelled at me as I ran by.

When I hit a 5k to go I got really excited and wanted to take off but was also worried about going too soon because I knew there were still quite a few hills to go. I was also reluctant to pass the guy ahead of me and not have anyone to focus on or run with. I was getting tired and told myself I just had about 23 minutes of hard running left. Mile 11 was 7:14 and then I gave myself permission to go. I passed the guy ahead of me after going through a water stop where they were giving out wet rags. I missed my water hand off there because I went for the kid and he let go too soon. I was going to get water from the next guy in line, but he jumped back to keep from getting splashed so I couldn't reach him. I was disappointed because at that point I felt like I really needed it! Luckily there was another water stop sooner than I expected. I was counting down how many more minutes I had to go instead of distance. It felt more doable to say I had 15 more minutes to run than 1.5 miles, etc. With 2 miles to go there was another water stop and everyone there had costumes on. I loved the energy and they were even blowing bubbles. They helped push me up the big hill there. Mile 12 was 7:30. I told myself I had less than 10 minutes of hard running left and I could do anything for 10 minutes, but I'm not going to lie, every time I saw another hill coming up ahead I wanted to give up just a little bit. 

I really took off with a mile to go and I felt strong, but my legs were also super dead. I looked at what my overall time was and I thought it was going to be close whether I broke 1:37 or not, so I really gave it everything I had. I kept telling myself with this one every second was going to count. I was proud that I pulled out a 7:04 last mile. I could hear someone coming up behind me and figured it was the guy I had passed with a couple miles to go. We turned the corner to the finishing straightaway and I looked over to see it was a local runner who is very much a master. He was giving it hell and I went with him. We were running next to each other stride for the stride the whole finishing stretch. I looked at the finishing clock and my heart dropped when I saw the seconds were at 50 something. I didn't think I was going to make it in under 1:37. Then I got closer and saw the time was 1:35:5x! I was going to come in under 1:36 for the first time in 4 years! The guy edged ahead of me with about 50 meters to go and gapped me a bit by the finish line. I looked at the results and he was 70 years old. I was blown away! Dude still has some high end sprinting speed! Pausing my watch by accident at the start caused my Garmin to show exactly 13.1 so Strava shorted me to 13.09 and didn't give me credit for a half-marathon which was a bit disappointing since it was my fastest one in years!    

I liked his finish line picture better than mine because I look like I'm hauling!

I was 2nd overall female and 20th out of 320 overall with an official finishing time of 1:35:56. I averaged 7:19 pace. Thanks to the guy who outkicked me, I ran the last portion of the race in 5:45 pace. I don't think I would have gotten in under 1:36 had he not been there to push me, so that was much appreciated! I ran a 2 mile cool down and then watched for my friend Kirsten to finish. I figured she'd finish in over 2 hours because her PR was a 1:57 and she'd just run a 50 mile trail race a month before. She shocked me by running a 6 minute PR so I missed her finish! We got some food, picked up my award, and then headed home. When we got back Elise and my mom were waiting for us on the porch wearing crowns. They had made all kinds of signs and crafts while we were gone which was a lot of fun! Now on to Grandma's Marathon!

Notes we came home to.