Garmin Kansas City Half Marathon: Hills & Thrills & What Could Go Wrong?

The short:

I continued my year of running races I've avoided because they aren't fast courses [or weather, or fields] at the Kansas City Half Marathon on October 16.  If I'd have known how hard the new course was, I probably wouldn't have run it, but I'm glad I was unaware because it was a fun experience!  I was 2nd overall female to my fast 26-year-old friend Jessi, and I missed the age 40 state record that I wanted by 21 seconds, but I really don't think I could have done anything differently to get those seconds on that course 13 days post-marathon.  My time was 1:24:06 on the hilliest half course I've ever run (over 800 ft of gain), which is probably equivalent to a high-1:21 on a flat course.  I was also reminded how very lucky I am to have running friend connections in the Kansas City area.

Race results are here.

My Strava activity is here.

Fast friends

The long:

Why not race a hilly half 13 days after a marathon?  I've run the Kansas City Half Marathon multiple times before - 8, I think - although not frequently in recent years (2015 and 2017 details).  After I narrowly missed the age 40 state half record of 1:23:45 in 80-90 degrees at Rock the Parkway in August, I started thinking about running this race to try for it - several times I have broken the single age record for my age at Rock the Parkway, but usually that race is in April.  I go to Kansas City monthly for work, so I scheduled my work trip for the 2 days prior to this race, and planned to race it if I recovered well from Milwaukee, or to pace the 1:35 group with my friend Andrew if I didn't.  I started getting excited about racing it about 5 days before, which was my cue that I was recovered enough to give it a go.

I met my friend Jessi, who lives in Kansas City, for a run a couple of days before the race and she mentioned that she was also running the half.  Jessi is a 1:15 half marathoner, so I knew I was racing for 2nd, even though she insisted she was not in top shape and was going to try to run with me.  I looked forward to her company for however many miles we could share.  I met my friend Andrew on Friday morning for a run on part of the course, including the monster hill that was mile 6.  Andrew, who lives in the area, told me that the course was the hilliest it's ever been, and "the perfect weather we are getting is wasted on this course", hah!

I was going to race in this but Jessi
talked me into a sports bra (which was
the correct choice, with gloves)

On race morning we did have perfect running weather: about 40 degrees and light wind.  I parked about a half mile from the start by Jessi, Andrew, and Josh.  We all warmed up together, and lamented about why we couldn't have had that weather for our recent marathons (Andrew and Josh ran Chicago the previous weekend).  We lined up in partial darkness for the 7:00 a.m. start, and I felt relaxed and ready to just see what happened.  I planned to run by effort and to go out conservatively, unsure what the course elevation would do to my splits, but knowing that it would not make them even.

Jessi and I went out together, and were out front for the women right away.  We had two cyclists near us, who told us they were there to help us through the course.  We talked a little bit, and the first 3 miles went by fairly quickly.  They were mostly light incline, with one steep hill that was about 150 m long.  My legs didn't love that but it was over quickly.  Overall I felt okay; not wonderful but not bad.  I didn't look at my splits, but Jessi was checking with each watch beep so I knew she knew where we were at, and I'd told her I hoped to average about 6:15 if the course was similar to in the past.  Miles 1-3 were 6:31, 6:25, 6:17 (grade-adjusted about 6:23, 6:13, 6:08). Mile 4 was pretty flat, and our split was 6:07 (grade-adjusted 6:05).  Mile 5 had a ton of drop, and before the race I'd told Jessi that we'd probably run it in 5:50 but that mile 6 would be 6:50 so it would even out.  We ended up running mile 5 in 5:45 (grade-adjusted 6:03, but it felt much easier), then we started up the 140+ ft climb that was mile 6.

I could tell Jessi felt better than me on that long hill, and I tried to stay with her but she gapped me a bit.  I ran mile 6 in 6:47 (grade-adjusted 6:09).  That was the first point in the race that I felt residual fatigue from my marathon.  I generally recover quickly from marathons, and this one was no different, but hills hit me in a different way!  I was able to pull back up with Jessi briefly after the long hill, but when the flat/decline stretch ended, she pulled ahead again on the next uphill as my legs protested the hill.  I aimed to keep an even effort, reminding myself that she had gone out very conservatively for her and would likely run a huge negative split.  Miles 7 and 8 were 6:15 and 6:04 for me.

At mile 8, we began a climb that would last until 10.5.  I felt fine on the flats and declines, but my legs were done with the uphills.  At this point, I could no longer be blissfully unaware, because we were running the old (~2007-2015) course backwards.  The final 2.5 miles of that course were always so fast because they were all downhill, though of course you'd earned it with the early climbs.  I never wanted to run up that business, but I found myself in that position this year and even worse I knew exactly what was happening!  The cyclist with me was super encouraging, which helped because I was in no man's land.  I could see men ahead of me, but until I crested the climb at 10.5, I didn't have the strength to think about pulling them in.  I lost a lot of time during this section, with splits of 6:25, 6:52, and 6:39.  Grade-adjusted they were pretty consistent at 6:15ish, but the 2.5 mile climb took a lot out of me.

Miles 12 and 13 flattened out, with some decline.  I felt much better and began chasing down the man in front of me.  At the mile 12 sign I took a look at the total time on my watch, and according to my (apparently incorrect) math, I thought I was going to break the record if I ran the last mile in 6:15 or under.  I'd hoped to have more wiggle room than that, but I knew I could run the final mile faster than that if it didn't have hills.  I was gaining on a man, and kept telling myself that if I caught him I'd get the record.  The encouraging cyclist was telling me it was time to start my kick, and I pushed with all I had left.  I caught the man just before the final turn on the course.  I had a split second of being proud of myself for catching him before he turned left with the marathoners and I turned right with the half...therefore I was kicking and he was nearing his halfway point, hah.  My legs were done, and of course there was yet another hill to get to the finish.  I passed the mile 26 sign for the marathon, willing my legs up the final 0.2.  My mile 12 and 13 splits were 6:07 and 6:12.  The final stretch seemed to take forever, my kick didn't seem very good, and the finishing clocks were on the 5k and 10k, so I couldn't see my time.  I tried to smile as I came through and the announcer said my name, but it might have been more of a grimace.  I stopped my watch a few seconds after I finished, and saw that I'd missed the record.

Finishing grimace/smile

Post-race, I found Jessi, the half female champ, and Chandler, who won the 10k.  We reunited with Josh before too long, and jogged back to our cars, me holding a bag full of water, bananas, chips, and my finishers medal.  After changing our shoes, putting on more clothes, and reconnecting with Andrew, we set off on a cool down.  The combination of the race's hills and standing around in the cold for a little longer than I should have before starting to run again made my legs very unhappy, but I got in 4+ more slow miles for the morning to round out 20 for the day...because this season isn't quite over yet!  Then it was onto brunch with Jessi.  We joked that we wanted one of everything on the menu, billed to the Kansas City Marathon for the top 2 female half finishers - wouldn't that be a great race award?

Preparing to cool down

This course slowed everyone down, but I think it hurt me more, relatively, since I was 13 days off a marathon.  I think I faired alright, but that I'd have done better, again relatively, on a flat course.  It's a lot easier to run fatigued on flatness than on elevation, a concept I'll remember the next time I schedule a race under similar circumstances.  I wouldn't have finished ahead of Jessi no matter what (she ran 1:21:37, including powering up that long hill and several sub-6:00 miles in her second half), so I placed as well as I could have.  I knew I wouldn't run super fast, but I know I could've gotten the state record on the old course that had about 520 ft of elevation gain - that extra 300 ft was a lot to add to an already hilly course!  It's disappointing when your best on the day isn't enough, but at the end of the day, it was big training day at about marathon pace on a route I'd never choose for a marathon pace workout.  The current age 40 record is going to stand, but I'm coming after the age 41 record after October 26!

Milwaukee Marathon: The Racecation

Christian and I rock at racecationing!  Here is what we did:

Friday, 10/1:

• The drive (we really only stopped to pee, but we had a great time together in the car!)
• The Historic Third Ward
• Milwaukee Riverwalk
• Milwaukee Public Market (dinner at Pitaworks for me)

Saturday 10/2:

• Collectivo Coffee
• Art Museum Area
• Sculpture Walk
• Milwaukee Boat Tour
• Cheese shopping
• Cafe Hollander for lunch
• Race expo and elite meeting
• The Piggly Wiggly (don't ask, hah!)

Sunday 10/3:

• The Marathon and awards ceremony
• Brady Street Pet Parade
• MKE Games for lunch and games
• Mitchell Park Domes
• Bradford Beach
• Black Cat Alley
• Crossroads Collective (Indian food dinner for me)
• Purple Door Ice Cream (salted caramel ice cream for me)

Monday 10/4:

• Stoney Creek Coffee
• Boswell Books
• Old North Point Water Tower
• Bobblehead Hall of Fame
• Historic Third Ward
• Milwaukee Public Market (Aladdin Taste of the East for me)
• Lakefront Brewery Tour
• The Basilica of Josaphat

Tuesday 10/5: 

• The drive home, including celebrating Christian's birthday with stops near Chicago for sweets
• The Cake House
• Leila Love Patisserie Macaroons Shop

All vacation photos can be viewed here.  The only thing better than traveling to a race is traveling to a race plus a vacation!

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon: The Aftermath

The story continues from here.

After I crossed the finish line, the race director Scott, who I'd met at the elite meeting, told me he'd see me at 12:15 at the awards with a check!  One of the volunteers gave me the choice of a heat sheet or jacket, and I thought they were giving jackets to everyone until I saw that it said "top finisher" on it and that only 5 others had one.

I was photographed by the race officials and made my way though the chute to find my honorary coach Christian.  I know it's difficult to watch a marathon you were supposed to run, so my heart really went out to her, and she was such a great help with driving to the start, carrying my bag, taking pictures, etc. - not to mention exceptionally fun to vacation with!

Scott, the race director, was AWESOME

Top 5 (from left to right 2, 3, 4, 5, 1)

The awards ceremony began with the top 5 overall females, and when I was on the stage they told me not to leave because they'd be calling me back up for masters.  When they were announcing masters and got to me, they said something like, "Even though Sara was also in the top 5 overall, the judges also decided to give her 1st masters" (typically top finishers are taken out of masters, or alternatively given the best monetary award out of the two, which in this case was 3rd overall).  I'm not sure who these judges are, but I like them!  This race was also the Wisconsin RRCA State Marathon Championships, so I got another award for winning masters in that.  The Wisconsin resident awards were cuter, but the judges didn't give this Missouri girl that one, hah!  Also, fun fact - the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon and I are both 40!

Top 3 masters

I learn things from every marathon, and my big take-away from this one is that if the weather is poor, I should use my watch early on instead of running by feel.  I went out at an effort that felt sustainable for 26.2 miles, and in hindsight my early pace was about what I think I could do in great weather.  Clearly, it was not the correct pace for this race, and had I been watching my splits I would have known that and dialed it back.  Alternatively, I could have gone out at 50k effort and probably fared well.  It's been a very long time since I've run a warm marathon (since Heart of America 2010, I believe), but I will be more prepared to execute it well when it happens again.  On the other hand, I think I'd have overheated either way in this race, and I struggle with negative splitting anything in warm temps, so I'm not sure if I'd have run much faster with a more conservative start under the circumstances.  I'm proud that I put myself in there with the female field and wasn't scared to go out to try to win the thing, even though I was unable to.  I am pumped that I set the masters course record.  My time was 8-10 minutes slower than I think I could do in good conditions, which isn't terrible considering the weather, but the way I ran it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  

This is the year to not worry about times, though!  We don't know for sure when the 2024 OTQ window will open yet, but we do know it's not mimicking past cycles (if it was, it would have opened last month).  If it opens next fall and the time is potentially achievable for me (e.g., not something like 2:38), that will be the time to worry about times!  I would love to PR in the meantime, but I also know it's not going to happen in 70 degree weather so had no expectations for it in this race, though my training cycle was very similar to what I ran before Indy 2019 so under different circumstances I'd have had bigger time goals.  But, I can't wait to do 26.2 again...and as per usual, I think I have a faster one in me, God-willing!

Racecation details are here.

Stuff

Lake Michigan

This doesn't adequately depict my
level of soaked-ness

#rabbitelite

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon: The Back Half

The First Half story is here.

From when I lost the third female cyclist before the half, I had a hope in my mind that I'd get a cyclist back.  This came to fruition around mile 15-16 when one of the ladies who'd been leading came back to me real quick (she was walking).  Moving from 4th to 3rd gave me a boost.

Just after this, the sky opened a torrential downpour on us, which did not give me a boost!  At least it wasn't windy, but running in heavy rain was not the best.  I commiserated with a man I was running by, and kept pushing onward.  He joked that now that I was in third I couldn't call it in, but no one cared if he walked (he didn't, and actually finished just in front of me).  The rain lasted 2-3 miles, and needless to say I was drenched.  My friend Amy wrote a blog post about her Milwaukee race, and so much of what she said resonated with me!  My race went downhill after the monsoon too.

The man on the right is the one I
commiserated the monsoon with

After the rain cleared, the sun came out.  Although the first 15 miles of the race were warm, it was cloudy, which was a saving grace, but the end was mostly sunny.  I was feeling average, but I was excited about being in 3rd and blissfully unaware of my gradual slow down.  Around mile 20, my cyclist escort told me that I had a 100-200 meter lead on 4th, which made me a bit nervous because I wasn't feeling fantastic.  I knew I'd fight for it if she came up on me, but I didn't feel super confident about holding anyone off at that point.  

However, the miles continued to pass pretty quickly and I continued to pick off men during the final 10k.  According to the race stats, I passed 7 men from 20 to the finish (and 1 passed me, which occurred in the final mile), which now I think is kind of crazy considering how much I was slowing down, but at the time I took as a sign I was finishing strong, haha!  Later when I looked at other runners' results that Strava linked to mine, I saw my positive split (1:23:55/1:29:51) was less than any of the guys around me, which made me feel a little better about it.  The fly and die method is generally a more painful way to run a marathon, and when I see significant positive splits I think "that must have been soooo miserable", but I didn't suffer any more than any other marathon.  Maybe my high mileage training conditioned me to tolerate it better, or maybe since it was weather-related it was differently painful.

I think these two shots were around 20

In the final miles, I was ready to be finished like the end of every marathon, but nothing unusual.  I counted down the miles and pushed with what I had.  At mile 25, the cyclist told me I had nothing to worry about, which I don't think was accurate since 4th finished only 23 seconds behind me!  But because of that and since I knew I wasn't going to move up, I relaxed in the last mile instead of pushing, and made sure to smile the whole way.  It was my slowest mile (7:05) and my only mile in the 7's, but I expected it to be because I did ease up and enjoy instead of push.

Finishing stretch

As I neared the finish, I crossed a timing mat and then heard the announcer say my name and that I was the third female finisher.  My smile likely got even larger, and I ended up with the best set of professional race pictures that I've ever had (even without wearing sunglasses, gasp!)!  I wasn't sure how to celebrate since I didn't win, so a thumbs up was what happened.

The story continues here...

See man I ran with during the monsoon with the
race medics in this photo

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon: The First Half

Continued from Pre-Race.

From the gun, I took off with my eye on other women in the field.  Remember, my main objective for the race was to compete and place as high as I could.  For the first mile there were many (8-10?) women around, and I settled in.  I generally do well running by feel, so I never worried about heat/humidity adjusting my pace; I just planned to go out at an effort that felt sustainable for 26.2 miles and felt I confident that would be the correct pace. Calculators such as this one, which I looked at in retrospect, advise adding 15-20 seconds/mile at my pace based on the conditions.

Where's Sara?

If someone had asked me what pace we were running at the beginning I'd have estimated 6:40, but turns out my first mile per my Garmin was 6:13 -  the fastest I've ever started a marathon and also not a good idea for anyone not planning to average around 6:00 for the race!  I guess it was just the competition and running on rested legs for the first time in quite awhile, and I suppose I was also wrong to trust my pacing by feel.  At Tobacco Road I went out in 6:50 for the first mile and this really felt the same as that.  Oof.  Usually I believe not looking at my watch during races is a positive thing, but for this one it was probably a mistake.

But, ignorance is bliss so I didn't know what I was doing until after the fact!  I actually felt super confident for the first several miles because I was in the mix with the top women and thought we were starting relatively slow [face palm].  My course pace was 6:21 at the 5k and 6:21 at the 10k, so I was pacing evenly, but I was also pacing like the weather was perfect, which, in case I wasn't clear the first 5 times I mentioned it, was not the case.

We spread out a by miles 3-6, with two women pulling away.  I knew speeding up was going to get me out of marathon effort zone (one wise decision made at least!), so I settled in with a friendly woman and man who were chatting away.  When I first fell in stride with them there were a couple of other women with us, but they fell back before long, putting me and Samantha in third and fourth female positions, with several men in our vicinity.  The race had cyclists with the top 3 men and women, so there was a cyclist riding near Samantha and I.  I picked up my first elite bottle at around mile 4, which I'd filled with UCAN (my bottles near 9, 14, and 20 had nuun and a gel).

Samantha's foot is in this photo,
& her male friend

The miles passed quickly, and at one point I heard Samantha tell her male friend something was bothering her and she felt like she needed to either speed up or slow down, then he asked if she wanted to use the decline to speed up, and they picked it up (the race course was relatively flat and straight, but had some turns and inclines/declines).  I was glad that I'd overheard the conversation, because otherwise it would have been a hit to my confidence when they pulled away.  I think this was around mile 11.  I didn't like seeing the third spot and cyclist move away from me, but I knew I needed to keep my effort steady and not pick up at that point.  There were several men around, so I generally had someone to run with or near.  Samantha would go on to win the race.

I expected the race would have a clock at 13.1, but there was only a timing mat.  I considered looking at my watch at that point, but it was kind of freeing not to know.  In hindsight, I think I also felt better about my race not knowing, because I never thought I was not doing well!  I paced pretty evenly for the first half though, coming through at 1:23:55.  I didn't feel bad but I also didn't feel as fresh as I'd like at halfway.  I didn't feel like I was going to negative split, which was unsurprising given the temperature.  However, I kept gradually reeling in and passing men, so that gave me the illusion I was doing great.

The story continues here...

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon: Pre-Race

My race summary, with several links, is here.

I selected the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon because of the race date, the relatively straight point-to-point mostly flat course (~600 ft gain), the historical race weather (average morning low of 44 degrees), and the likelihood that there would be a women's field that would challenge me but that I could place in.  My running buddy Christian chose to run this race for the same reasons, but unfortunately got injured about 2 weeks before and couldn't compete, but she is a phenomenal friend who still made the race trip with me!  We did so many vacation activities before and after the race, but that will be a separate post.

We loved the race jackets!

My training cycle for the race was comparable to what I did leading up to my PR marathon at Indy Monumental 2019, but for various reasons I had a hard time getting my head in the game during the final 3-4 weeks.  Every race I ran during my build up was in warm, humid weather, so I hadn't run any fantastic times, but for some reason that didn't bother me.  Maybe I'm finally learning to look at the big picture instead of analyzing every workout/race in isolation!

Every time I checked the race day forecast (which was too often), it seemed to get warmer.  At one point it also indicated that we were going to have a 15-20 mph headwind the entire race, so after they took that out I was more thankful for what we got:  70 degrees throughout the race (at least it didn't warm up!), 67 degree dew point (at least it wasn't 70!), cloudy for most of the race (much better than sun!), and possible rain for the first couple of hours (rain feels good at 70!).

I was in the elite field for the race, which got me bottles on the course, access to a VIP pre-race area, and a pre-race elite meeting.  I had to restrain myself from asking hundreds of questions during said meeting!  Christian attended with me to gain experience, and I met Amy who I'd talked to many times on Instagram over the past few years (read her race recap here - it's excellent!).  I dropped off my bottles decorated with hot pink duct tape, tired to scope out my competition, and race instinct began taking over.

The pink showed up really well!

On race morning, Christian drove me to the start.  We got lost due to road construction and a highway onramp that Apple maps didn't know was closed, so I switched my car's display screen to the compass and just had her drive north until we could again get on the highway again.  Once we arrived, we walked inside through the rain and hung out in the VIP area until it was time for me to begin warming up.  I did all of my usual race morning routines, and felt excited and ready to go.  I knew a PR wouldn't be happening in the conditions, but strangely enough I wasn't at all upset by that.  I switched my A goal to competing.  I thought winning the race would be amazing, although that all depends on who shows up.  I definitely wanted to win masters, which again depends on who shows up.  Really, in the words of Molly Seidel, I just wanted to stick my nose in it, and I went to the starting line prepared to do just that!  I really didn't overthink this one; in fact, I probably underthought it, which I imagine was good for typically-obsessive me.

Someday we will get to take expo
pics without masks again...

The story continues here...

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Cliffs Notes

The Good:  I placed 3rd overall female and 1st masters female, achieving my place goals for the race (overall podium + win masters).  I got in there and competed with a bunch of 23-25 year old ladies, who made up 5 of the top 6 women.  This race was the RRCA Wisconsin state championship marathon, so I'm a state [masters] champ - something I haven't been able to say since high school.  My sub-3 marathon streak lives on, with this being my 12th or 13th consecutive, depending on whether or not you count the marathon split of my 50k.  My time was the the fastest masters female time ever run at this race, and the 39th fastest female time ever run in the 40 years of this race.  I ended up with 14 professional race photos that I liked, which has never happened before - possibly because I smiled almost the entire race!  I also had a fabulous trip with my friend Christian, making vacation memories that will last a lifetime.

The Bad:  My time of 2:53:46 wasn't what I'd trained for, although with the race day weather we got I didn't expect much more.  It was 70 degrees and 90% humidity/67 degree dewpoint throughout the race, and from about miles 15-18 there was heavy rain.  After that cleared the sun began peaking out and baking us for the rest of the route.  I'm not saying that this is a bad marathon time, just that I believe I have a faster one in me on a 40 degree day at the moment.

The Ugly:  My splits!  My only sub-3:00 I've executed worse than this one was Houston 2020 when I had bronchitis, and does that really count?  Based on the weather and my primary objective of putting myself in contention in the women's field, my splits make some sense, but I'm not going to tell you they were the right way to do it! [10/10/21 addition: After tracking a lot of friends and acquaintances at Chicago, I felt better about my splits and time; warm weather marathons are just a trick!]

The results:  Click for mine and overall.  My Strava activity/really solid regression run is here.

The Details:

Pre-Race 

The First Half

The Back Half 

The Aftermath 

The Racecation

Always thankful

Pretty sure this means I need to go back
in 2022 & try to lower this...

It was my best Plaza 10k, it was my worst Plaza 10k

The short:

I nabbed my best ever overall placing with what was by far my slowest time at this race, with 2nd overall female in 38:15.  Due to various factors (the heat, peak marathon training, seeing two friends suffer devastating losses in the days before the race), my expectations for the race were not high.  In retrospect, I am quite happy with the place and quite meh about the time.

Results are here.

My Strava activity is here.

Better together

The long:

I continued my hot weather racing streak at the Plaza 10k, with no clouds in the sky and 80 degrees on race morning.  Because the race fell 3 weeks before my season goal marathon, I planned to train right through it, and the forecast made me confident that was the right decision (i.e., I won't run a fast time at 80 degrees no matter how rested I am).  The week before the race I had workouts that never felt good but that I hit my paces on, which is typical for me in the throes of marathon training, and a few days before the race I saw 104 miles on my rolling 7.  I don't think racing without a taper necessarily hurts my performance, but I certainly don't feel as fresh; I just grit it out when feeling tired like I do in a lot of workouts during marathon training!

Before things went downhill in the days leading up to the race, my goal was to place as high as I could.  The best I'd ever placed at the race previously was 6th overall female.  I also hoped to win overall masters female, and to break the Missouri age 40 state record of 38:04.  Race morning I warmed up with friends and tried to enjoy the moment, but had a really hard time getting my head in the game.  In the few days prior to the race, I had a friend who lost her son unexpectedly and another friend who lost her husband, so it was difficult to place importance on the race.  My heart wasn't in the race, it was with them.

We all saw the photographer on a ladder at the start!

I saw several fast Kansas City women on the starting line, and knew they would push me in the race.  From the gun a woman I didn't know was ahead for the first half mile or so, then me and the ladies I was running with (Chandler and Amy) passed into the top 3 female positions.  I knew both Chandler and Amy were talented runners, and I was hopeful for a top 3 finish because our start felt very conservative (6:13 on the flat first mile) and no other women were around.

Race instinct took over to some degree, and I slowly upped the effort.  Like every Kansas City race, this isn't an even split course, though this is the flattest course I run in that area with about 170 feet of elevation gain.  Mile 2 was 6:03 and mile 3 6:11, though as usual I didn't look at my watch during the race.  Typically this race has a clock at the 5k but this year they didn't have a clock or timing mat, which I missed!  Sometime around the halfway point, Chandler and I pulled away from Amy.  I felt confident that I could hold onto 1 and 2 with Chandler; I had no pep but the pace also didn't feel that hard, and I knew Amy had to be feeling a lot worse than I was to let us gap her.

Running with Chandler is always a pleasure!  I really enjoyed sharing most of this race and most of Rock the Parkway with her.  She is kind, positive, and helps me get the best out of myself.  With where I was mentally and emotionally for this one, running with a friend beside me was extra helpful.

Mile 4 is downhill and usually my favorite mile of this race, but this year they were doing road construction in that area and it was all rivety.  It was not ideal terrain for Next % shoes, that's for sure!  My friend Andrew, who went out faster than me, hopped up on the sidewalk for a moment to avoid the crappy road, and I considered following him but it cut a corner off the course slightly so I didn't because I sure wasn't getting disqualified in my one chance of a top 2 finish at this event!  He realized the situation soon and jumped back on the I'm-going-to-twist-an-ankle road, and shortly after that Chandler and I passed him.  I encouraged him to go with us, but his faster start had caught up with him a bit.  My 4th mile was 5:51.

Laughing at Brent around mile 4

Mile 5 goes back up the incline the course goes down in mile 4, on the opposite side of the divided road.  Some years I have loathed that climb, but it was okay this time, possibly because I was running so much slower than I ever have at this race!  The split was 6:13, which is about even effort to our other miles with the elevation gain.  Chandler and I were still side-by-side.  Shortly after we passed mile 4, there was an aid station on the side I was on.  She mentioned she was going to get a water, telling me because she was going to have to cross either right in front of or behind me to grab it.  I told her I'd grab it for her since it was on my side.  I picked up a bottle and passed it to her, and it was caught on camera.  Despite the shot being unflattering of me, I absolutely love it!

Team work makes the dream work!

We passed mile 5 together, and right after Chandler began pulling away.  I tried to stay with her but I didn't have any get up and go.  She gradually extended her lead, and I tried not to give up but my heart really wasn't in it and I settled to some degree.  If I'd kept at it mentally, she'd have still gotten me, but not by as much - she finished 15 seconds ahead of me and my last mile was 6:02 and final kick 5:45 pace.

Clock shot

I ended up finishing in 38:15 gun time.  They didn't give chip times to the overall winners (i.e., results have chip and gun time as the same, since that is how overall prizes are awarded), but I figured since I started between Christian and Andrew, whose chip times were -10 seconds and -12 seconds respectively, my chip time would have been 38:04 (tying the state record).  State records go by gun time so gun time is all that matters there, but of course that would happen to me!  Much like in the half marathon, I know I can run significantly faster than the record time, but I cannot do it in 80 degrees.

Post-race fist bump caught on film

After the race, I headed out on the Trolley Trail for 11 more miles, which is too long to call a cool down.  I felt fine running very easy, and finished up my final 20+ mile day before my next marathon.  Andrew accompanied me for the whole addendum as part of his Chicago Marathon training, which was quite helpful.  

I'm not sure what the future holds for my next race or for everything else in life, but I know who holds the future!  God's plan often doesn't make sense to us on earth, but it's always best.

Miles from Mentor

Splits

Rock the Parkway: Heat Advisory Edition

The short:

I ran my fifth Rock the Parkway half marathon on 8/28/21 - the first time the race took place in August! I placed 3rd overall female for the third time; I can't seem to move up in my placing at this race (I've also been 4th), but I'm not fading at age 40, so I'll consider that a win.  I didn't have a time goal since it was over 80 degrees at the start and nearly 90 by the finish.  However, based on my Hospital Hill performance I figured if I could run 1:25ish it would be a good day, so I was satisfied with my 1:24:19 finish time, though I missed the Missouri state record for age 40 by 34 seconds. This was also my first time running a half marathon during a 90 mile week, but I really don't think that hurt me and blame any and all difficulty on the heat and humidity.  Racing is always a blessing, and I enjoyed myself greatly, but I also didn't feel super stoked about this one before or after, which I of course blame on summer!

Official results are here.

My dad's video of the start is here (enjoy the race officials yelling that only waves AA and A were supposed to be in the chute or starting, and a lot of people ignoring it, hah!).

My dad's video of the finish is here.

My Strava activity with splits and elevation is here.

Smiles for miles with Chandler

Pain face near the finish

The long:

Rock the Parkway is one of the races I return to year after year.  2021 was my fifth time running it.  The April 2020 event was postponed to August 2020 and then cancelled.  When race organizers cancelled they noted they were rescheduling for August 2021 with the hopes that COVID would allow them to hold a normal event by then.  After my heat debacle at the USATF Masters National meet in July, I wasn't particularly excited to run an August half, but I really love this race and knew I would have fun no matter what!

I'm loving my rabbit elite kit!

This race was 5 weeks out from my first fall marathon, and there was no reason to "waste" a taper on an 80+ degree half, so I trained right through it, including a workout with almost 7 miles of sub-6:00 running on Tuesday, 13 miles on Thursday, and 90 miles total during race week.  I've run solid halves during 80-some mile weeks before so this part didn't worry me.  I tend to feel worse if I taper too much!

I never expected the weather would be good, but when weather.com told me it was 79 degrees when I woke up on race morning, I knew things were going to be even worse than I'd expected by the 7:00 a.m. start.  My goal was to place as high as I could, and while I'd thought that I could probably just barely break the age 40 state record of 1:23:45 at 70-75 degrees, I knew it would be a stretch at 80-90 degrees.  I race by effort anyway, and this course is hilly in a way that you really need to run by effort instead of splits, so I figured I'd just start off about marathon effort and see what I got!

Not the best temperature to 
see at 4:44 a.m.!

I warmed up for a little over 2 miles with my running buddies Casey, Christian, and Andrew, we all complained about the weather, and we lined up in the elite wave.  I greeted my fast friend Chandler in the corral, saw another fast Kansas City area runner Connie, and had a brief conversation about the course elevation profile with a runner I didn't know, Kristen (names were on our bibs).  I was open about my plan to go out very easy, since the heat sneaks up on me if I don't, and I also told the others that miles 2 and 3 of the course have a lot of elevation gain so it's best to keep things really in check for the first 3 miles.

Miles from Mentor teammates

After the start, Connie was quickly out front for the women, followed by Kristen.  Chandler, Casey, Christian, and I were all together, with Andrew and several other men around as well.  Chandler and I ran most of the 2019 Grandma's Marathon together, and she told me that she was going to stick with me in this race since she thought I was the best pacer (aww).  I shared my course strategy mile by mile with her, and after getting up the climbs in miles 2-3, we notched down the effort and started trying to chase down Kristen.  At that point we lost the others who'd been running with us.

This must have been right after
an aid station, because Chandler 
was never behind me

Running with Chandler was great.  We chatted a bit, I gave her a heads up on course hills and upcoming turns, and we encouraged each other that we could overtake the woman ahead of us.  We gained on her, but I could see she was also passing men who'd gone out fast so I didn't think she was dying.  I kept my eyes on her, and before a hill around mile 8, I told Chandler we should ease up the hill then really chase her down.  At this time we were 3rd and 4th females behind Connie and Kristen.

Towards the end

I've learned that in the heat, instead of a slow burn to fatigue, it often hits me all at once.  Instead of going from feeling good to feeling okay to feeling a little tired to feeling pretty beat, I go from feeling good to feeling pretty beat all at once!  This happened around mile 9.5 of this race.  I began struggling to stay with Chandler, and hung on for maybe a quarter mile but then she gapped me.  Shortly after,  I saw Connie standing on the side of the road, having dropped out due to overheating.  She'd gone out pretty fast for the conditions, and of course I'd hoped I could catch back up to her, but not like that!  At that point I was 3rd female, with Chandler looking strong.  I hoped that Chandler could catch the first woman, and better yet, that both Chandler and I could catch her.  She still had a significant lead on us, but heat is an X factor for everyone.  I felt myself fading but reminded myself that the heat could hit the others hard at any time so I should keep pressing.  Sometimes I wish I could try a run in someone else's body and see if it feels different!

How the final 3.5 miles felt

I'm pretty good at negative splitting long races in cool weather, but it's much more difficult for me to do in the heat.  I had a far weaker final 5k than I typically do in this race, but I fought with all I had and didn't let myself settle for 3rd until I saw Chandler crossing the finish line.  The final mile of the race is downhill, though you've earned it after climbing the same hill in mile 2, and normally it's a relatively smooth mile, but this year it felt like the longest mile ever!  I just kept thinking, "when am I going to see the finish line?!"  I'd looked at my watch at mile 11 to see if I had a chance at the state record to try to motivate my tired body and my mind that was telling me 3rd was just fine, and by my very loose calculations I thought I could get it if I ran the final 2 miles at about 6:00 pace.  I have done that on this course in 45 degree weather, but it wasn't to be on this day.  I know I can break the record significantly in decent conditions, but I don't have another half in Missouri planned before I turn 41 so it would have been nice to sneak by in this one!

Clock shot!

The announcer announced "another top female finisher coming in" as I crossed the line in 1:24:19.  After bending over for a moment and congratulating Chandler and Kristen, I turned around to watch for my friends coming in.  Andrew came through in 1:25:58 (I think he is in better shape than me but the heat bothers him more), and Casey in 1:28.  We snapped some pictures and I knew I'd better get moving pretty quickly or my 6.5 more miles for the day weren't going to happen!  Christian came through in 1:34 then I jogged to my car to change my shoes, drink multiple bottles, and grab a gel and chews.  I'd planned to take a gel in the race since I had a 22 mile day, but the thought of stomaching one was not appealing!  Generally I don't take a gel in a half, but I've learned that when I'm tacking on a lot of miles after the race I need to take one to stay on top of my fueling, and I later paid for not taking it.

Casey showing how we all felt, Andrew staying on
top of hydration, & my awesome parents

Andrew ran the 6.5 additional miles with me, which was much appreciated!  We ran back on the course since the road was closed to traffic, and I ended up picking up water from two aid stations along the way, and when I started bonking I stopped and drank 3 cups of Gatorade, which saved the rest of the miles.  The extra miles were quite easy paced, but we successfully finished them off, another step towards our next 26.2s!

Please refer to age percentages ;-)

All in all, I'm content with this race.  I'm not super pumped or proud of it, but I'm also not disappointed.  I don't really think I could have done anything differently to improve my performance.  It's always a competitive event, and I'd love to move up to 1st or 2nd some day, but this wasn't my year for that.  The two women who beat me both competed in the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials and are currently training for fall marathons, so I had my work cut out for me.  I also think it was a take-what-you're-in-shape-for-and-add 5:00 kind of day for most!  Strava said this course had 525 ft of elevation gain, while it said Hospital Hill had 590 ft, but it was nearly 10 degrees warmer for this race so I think that means I ran better than at Hospital Hill - and I definitely ran better than at Masters Nationals with a non-flat middle 10k of about 38:30 in this race.  I also think I'll get some nice training gains from the race and from gutting through the miles afterwards.  And as always, any day we can run is certainly a God-given gift!

Am I the only one who keeps their
plaques in the plastic?