2014 Prairie State Half Marathon race recap

Sorry for falling off the planet again over the past few weeks. Quarter-end is an extremely busy time for me in the office, and I haven't been feeling overly motivated to blog these days, to be honest. But more about that some other time.

Before I begin, my congratulations to everyone that has run marathons over the past few weeks! Way to go and way to push through! Very special congrats go out to the first-timers, including Meghan, Irina, Agnes, and Natali. Welcome to the club. =)

Two Saturdays ago, I ran the Prairie State Half Marathon for the second consecutive year.

Last year Kim paced me to a goal time (recap here), and in 2012 she also helped me achieve my best half marathon result of that year (recap here). Therefore, when I decided to sign up for Round 2 of Prairie State, I asked Kim if she'd be up for joining me again. I was thrilled when she said yes - especially given that she was running the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon the weekend prior. The woman is a powerhouse!

I planned on this race being a PR attempt. However, when it came down to it, I didn't train much beyond the minimum. In the month leading up to the race, I was much more focused on using my ClassPass trial membership to cram in as many barre classes as possible. From a running perspective, all I did was one 10-miler and one 12-miler, plus one or two shorter runs each week. Nevertheless, my long runs felt good amidst the glorious fall temperatures, and my hips and core were feeling stronger from all the barre classes. I was still feeling fairly confident.

Things were harried on the morning of the race. Last year, parking at the race was a complete disaster. This year, the race organizers banned on-site parking, instead implementing off-site race parking with a shuttle bus to/from the race site. While I appreciated the attempt to alleviate parking congestion, it didn't work very well. Basically, it just shifted the parking disaster from one location to the other. It also added undetermined wait times for the shuttle buses. Thank goodness this was a chip-timed race.

After I finally arrived onsite, I found Kim and then scurried to use the portapotties and gear-check my belongings. Apparently the organizers were asking everyone to place their stuff in clear plastic bags, and then attach a tag with our bib numbers. Gear check was pretty harrowing (and was very disorganized at post-race). Kim helped me as I was fumbling around trying to pin my bib, put on my knee straps, and adjust the layers that I was wearing. The race had already begun at that point, and we noticed that the course crossed right in front of the portapotties. That could have made for some unpleasant surprises!

We finally crossed the starting line about 8 minutes after the gun went off. I tried to settle into my pace but my Garmin was showing very different numbers than Kim's was. We decided to go with Kim's Garmin instead of mine, which turned out to be the right decision. My Garmin's numbers ended up being vastly different from hers for almost the entire race, sigh.

When I ran this race last year, I was so focused on my footing, my pacing, and running the tangents that I barely noticed the course scenery and had trouble keeping up conversation with Kim. This year, that wasn't the case! We were gabbing away and I was enjoying the fall foliage against the blue sky. The weather conditions were absolutely perfect for racing. Here's a picture with some of the foliage colors in the background:

Here's another picture with some of the scenic water views that were visible along the course:

I wanted to run the first 6-7 miles at around a 10:15 per mile pace, and walk through all of the aid stations. If things felt good, then we'd speed up during the second half.

I took my first GU around Mile 4. Around Mile 5, I started feeling worn down, which wasn't a good sign. I told Kim that I didn't think it was in the cards for me to run a negative split for the day, but hopefully I could hang on and run an even split?

This race has minimal spectators other than at the start/finish and at the turnaround point. My mom was going to be at the turnaround point, so I was holding out for that moment. We saw Erica tearing it up on her way back. Then we did start seeing spectators, which perked me up. I was really happy to see my mom, and we even got to see a surprise spectator in Bobbi! So awesome!

The path got crowded along the turnaround point. I embraced the forced opportunity to slow down for a few minutes and to ham it up for some of the cameras.

I slowly started feeling better and more energized. This made me a lot more optimistic. I mused to Kim that maybe I just needed the GU to kick in? I was wearing a 2:15 pace band and our splits were indicating that we were about a minute ahead of pace. I was all set to revel in this cushion. However, both of our Garmins were also registering that the course was at least a tenth of a mile short. Kim smartly said that we should be cautious of trusting the mile markers lest we receive an an unpleasant surprise at the end. I agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Kim and I had some passing conversations with a few other folks along the course, which was fun. In between, she was telling me to pump my arms because my legs would follow, etc. Some runners asked if she was my trainer. This made me grin. Other folks mentioned that they were also taking advantage of the advice she was giving me, too. This picture probably wasn't taken during one of those exact occurrences, but I like to think that it epitomizes the spirit of Kim's advice helping everyone!

During the last few miles, my right IT band was starting to bother me. Being the flatlander that I am, I was subdued by some of the gentle hills along the course. Beyond that, though, I felt solid. I took my second GU around mile 9.

Normally I am really feeling the exertion by Mile 10 or Mile 11, and craning my neck to see the next mile marker. This day, I didn't feel much different during that stretch. At one point I actually had to ask Kim which mile marker we had just passed because I forgot what mile we were on (in a good way). It was encouraging to be feeling so much stronger overall. For once, I was actually enjoying my surroundings instead of ignoring everything to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

Obligatory race photo body spasm

As we got closer to the finish area, Kim told me that she knew I had a kick in me after running two other races with me. Though I was feeling comparatively good, I couldn't quite find it in myself to sprint. Then, I saw Adam along the course waving his Terrible Towel. What a boost it was to see him! As I passed him, I yelled, "I am going to PR today!" and he said, "Run it home!" I told Kim, "Let's do this!" and at that point I finally got myself to sprint for the last tenth of a mile.

Here's a picture of Kim and me crossing the finish line:

Just for giggles, here's a quick throwback/side-by-side comparison to last year's finish line picture with Kim:

My final time this year was 2:13:51. This was an improvement of 90 seconds over my previous PR. Yay!

Here are some post-race pictures:

Adam, Kim, and I had a great brunch afterwards to celebrate. Super fun times!!!

Speaking of which, congratulations to Erica A. for winning her age group, to Erica H. for PR-ing, and to Jennifer for completing her first half marathon! Kim also mentioned that amidst her marathon recovery period, she felt great running this race (read her recap here). It was a great day of racing for all!

Thanks again go out to Kim for helping me achieve yet another time goal! It was so much fun catching up with her, and I know that I will always be in good hands with her help. It is definitely going to have to become an annual tradition for us to run at least one half marathon together every year, and then brunch afterwards. =)

My next race: the Carrera de los Muertos on November 1