Little Miami Half-Marathon 2013

On a roll now, i am going to write about yesterday's race today!

This was my second year doing this race. Last year I did the 10k, but this year the half-marathon fit nicely into my schedule as a training run.

Last year I had a pretty good run and even won a coffee mug for second place in my age group. This year I am not in as good shape, and I was not planning to push so hard. I did a tempo run on Friday and did not exactly take it that easy on Saturday. If I were rested, I figured I would be capable of a 2:03 - 2:05, which is still quite slow, even for an old lady like me. But given the circumstances I expected to be much slower than that.

The afternoon before the race I went up to Buckeye Running Company in Mason to pick up my packet. They were having a big sale, so I thought I could grab some deals and also avoid having to rush so much in the morning. Did find some good buys at the store. A lot of stuff was 40% off. I even got some new shorts for Tommy.

The race stars and finishes in Phegley Park in Morrow, on the Little Miami Scenic Trail. This Blogger app I'm using won't let me insert links easily but here is a link with info on the race: http://ohiorunning.com/LittleMiamiHalf/ .

One thing I want to note about Phegley Park. Neither Google Maps nor Mapquest nor Garmin seem to be able to locate it. If Google Maps can't find it, does it really exist? Anyway, even though I had been there last year, I had really just a vague idea of where it was. So I spent the night before the race haunted by anxiety dreams about getting lost on the way to the race. And in the morning I decided to follow the instructions printed in my confirmation email, which unfortunately assumed you were coming from the north and caused me to drive about 5-6 miles out of the way.

I made it to Morrow by 7 am, and followed a line of cars into a parking lot about a quarter mile from the start. I was glad I had picked up my race number and shirt the day before.

I headed over to the start area, and got on a portapotty line. The line moved very slowly. But I didn't have anything else to do unless I wanted to do a warmup jog, and I wasn't feeling ambitious enough for that. I counted the number of people ahead of me and divided it by the minutes left before the start, and it looked like I was going to be cutting it close. The guy in front of me decided it was too close, and he bailed. But I did make it inside with 5 minutes to spare.

I jogged to the start line and tried to find a place among the joggers, which is the pace I wanted to start out at. Only had to wait about a minute for the gun to go off.

Took about 25 seconds to cross the start line. This year, the first mile took us on a loop around "downtown" Morrow. Not much to see. What is the primary commercial business in Morrow? Is it canoe rental? Anyway, like the rest of the race, this little loop was flat and shady.

Soon we were back to Phegley Park and on the trail. Mile 1 was a 9:52, but I wanted to be even slower so I tried to dial it back a little more. I felt good.

I took 30 second walk breaks at each mile marker, and through each aid station.

The next three miles were 10:04, 10:02 and 10:04, just about right. I had Gatorade at the first aid station (around mile 2-ish) and a GU at the second (around mile 4). The aid stations were located at intersections where a road crossed the trail.

It is a very pretty place to run although somewhat boring.  But after so many summer runs on the treadmill I am not going to complain about miles of lush shady greenery on smooth, flat pavement.

I had a little knee twinge in the early miles but fortunately it went away and didn't bother me later in the race. I did feel like my right hamstring was a little tight late in the race but I wasn't sure if that was real or just psychological since that is the injury that destroyed my spring marathon, and it was about at that point in the marathon that it flared up. It hasn't bothered me in months and hasn't been a problem on any of my long training runs this summer. The slight tightness never really became an issue during the race. It was more like something I started thinking about, asking myself if it was real or imaginary.

The 10k runners turned around somewhere near this point, but there were still plenty of people around me. I think they actually get more finishers in the half-marathon than in the 10k. I had already been seeing the 10k leaders coming back the other way, and soon I could see the leaders of the half.

Mile 5 was a 9:45 and 6 was a 9:53. I was starting to pick it up a little, still feeling good. Had another GU around the mile 7 mark at that aid station. Mile 7 was a 9:30.

I knew I wasn't going to be under 2:05, but maybe I could still break 2:10.

People I saw and recognized during the race: not too many. Saw my former Congresswoman Jean Schmidt and her sister, who are both older than me but still kick my butt. After the turnaround, I saw my FB friend Lisa, whom I met at the Xenia marathon and who ran a pretty strong race for someone who is 15 weeks pregnant. I was impressed.

I found myself passing people the whole way back. Miles 8-10 were 9:47, 9:49 and 9:44. Pretty easy to keep a steady pace on a nice, flat trail. Had another GU at mile 11. Mile 11 was a 10:02, not sure what happened there except maybe I walked a little longer than previously.

Mile 12 was a 9:38. Now even though I was having a good race with no real issues to speak of, I wanted it to be over. Tried to pick it up a little more and pass as many people as I could. Mile 13 was an 8:57, and then 45 seconds for the last .1. i passed a bunch of people in that last mile.

Finished feeling like I'd had a decent workout, but with no desire to add on a few extra miles to give me the total of 16 that I was supposed to run yesterday. Oh well. At least I ran faster than I would have if I had done it on my own.

They gave out medals to the half-marathoners. One nice thing they did at this race was that they had an engraver there so if you wanted, you could get your medal engraved right after the race for $10. That would be nice if it was your first half or you ran a PR or there was something special about it for you. In my case there was no reason so I skipped it.

There was not much in the way of food, unfortunately. I had a couple of orange slices and a banana. There were bagels but I wasn't in the mood. I walked over to look at the results they were posting on a board, but they hadn't gotten down to me yet. I walked around for another minute and realized they were announcing the half-marathon age group winners, so all I had to do was listen.

I was not too surprised to find out that I was not among the top three in my age group. I think my time would have made it last year, but it was warmer last year. So it was time to go home! I had not brought ice for my knee but it was just as well because the car was in that lot a quarter mile away.

In the final results I was 7 of 26 in my age group, 128 of 310 women and 357 of 623 runners. No wonder it was hard to find a parking place near the start. That is a pretty good-sized race.

East Fork Backpack Trail Run 2013

Finally going to write about this before I forget the entire thing. Okay this was back on July 21. It is my least favorite race in the local trail series. The format is a handicapped start. Bob Roncker handicaps you by age, sex, and his own impression of how fast you are based on recent performances in the series. The handicapped race is 5.6 miles and it changes direction in alternate years.

What don't I like about it? Well, the handicapped thing means that instead of starting off in the back of the pack and finishing there relatively uneventfully, I have to start out early and get passed eventually by almost everybody else in the race. And that is unpleasant.

There is also a 10 mile race that is not handicapped but who wants to be out there that long? Not me.

But, after those sucky early races, I needed a better finishing position to improve my standings in the trail series. So I registered for this one as usual. The advantage is that I would know ahead of time how many other women were in the race, so i would have an idea ahead of time whether it would be worth showing up for it. When I saw that there were just a couple of dozen women entered, that meant even if I finished last it would be better than some of my finishes in the earlier races.

But if it had been raining and the trail conditions were going to be muddy, I was still going to stay home. I've had enough slogging through the slippery mud for awhlle.

The trails were dry so I had to go.

I am having a hard time writing this. Zen is driving me nuts today.

So, I got there and it was a nice day, not too horribly hot. Starting position was # 10, six minutes after the first runner. Chatted with Brenda W. at the start line. She usually does the 10 mile but she was doing the shorter race this time. She was starting one minute ahead of me, so I got to watch her and another woman take off up the hill. At the start line, Bob pointed to them and said to me "somebody for you to chase!" Haha, Bob, you are not supposed to know about that! I am trying to act like I don't care how i do or whether I beat Brenda.

Now, I don't remember a whole lot about the race at this point. The trails were in pretty good shape There was only a little bit of mud in a couple of places. I felt good and strong the whole way. I actually caught up to Brenda and the other woman about a mile in. I did not really want to pass them because all I needed to do was finish within one minute of Brenda to come out ahead of her in the results. And I wanted to take things as easy as possible. But i guess I was just having a stronger day, and I had to go around her and the other gal.

I somehow managed to pass all the people who started ahead of me and did not get passed by all of the people who started behind me. My time of 1:04:17 was slower than last year but faster than two years ago. I was 10 of 25 women, 34 of 58 runners overall, 20 of 58 by handicap, and 22 of 58 age-graded.

One smart thing I did this year was to bring along a cooler with ice and a plastic baggie, so I could ice my knee before driving home. So after I finished and got some orange slices and bagel and banana, I sat on the grass watching the rest of the field come in while I iced my knee. i have to remember to start doing that for all of my races, because it made a big difference in my recovery.