Jazz Half Marathon Report

Christine, Mason & I pulled out at around 4:45 on Saturday morning headed to New Orleans.   One minute later I almost broad sided a six point buck jumping across the road.   Was this a good omen that I didn’t hit it or a bad omen that an accident could happen at any moment.   As we made the trip, it rained sporadically adding to my confusion about the race.

You see, here is the problem.   Months ago when I thought up this attempt to try to qualify for Boston, I planned several races which would be good tests of my fitness and progress.   I had a training plan developed by Greg McMillan with McMillan Running which included these races.   And everything was geared towards getting me in top race shape for December 5th.   I knew what I had to run and how fast.   I just had to get my body to respond to my demands.

My 10 mile race earlier this month was a good race.   But it was not where I needed to be.   I still needed to find some more speed.   On top of that, that was the week that my legs decided they did not like training so hard.   And they have been rebelling ever since then.   So much so that they sent me to the doctor last week and now I am going to physical therapy to try to salvage my plan.

All of this was weighing on my mind this past week leading up to this race.   I felt that my best chance for a good race which could provide me with some positive energy heading into the final month was being taken away from me.   And there was nothing I could do about it.   So I mentally prepared myself for a less than stellar performance at the race.   I would shoot for sub 1:40 in the half marathon, but I would take whatever my leg allowed me to do.   And with the Bambi’s dad running across the road and the rain, I was prepared for the worst.

When we arrived in New Orleans, we met up with the rest of the team who were racing.   Louise, Mike, Marci, Blake and Christine were doing the race with me.   Paul was on the injured reserve list and had to watch.   We talked a little about the race, found the portalets, and then tried to jam ourselves into the narrow street where the starting line was.   Blake came towards the front with me while the others hung towards the back.   In the half alone, there were about 1350 people doing the race, so the street was packed.   When the gun finally went off, it took Blake & I 40 seconds to reach the starting line……..and then we were behind a bunch of walkers!

I am all for people of all abilities doing these runs.   Especially runs that are for charity.   But people, please go to the back if you are going to walk!   I finally had to follow two other men up on to the sidewalk for about a quarter mile to clear the carnage.   It was an accident waiting to happen with the curbs, dips and jumps I had to do.   But I survived it and managed to get back on the road.

My new take it as it comes plan was to go out at about a 7:45 to 8:00 minute per mile pace and see how my leg felt.   So much for that idea.   The adrenaline of the chase brought me to the mile mark in around 7:15 or so.   And that got my mind clicking like some Rube Goldberg Machine.   The back and forth, angel and devil conversations in my head were lightning fast.   And I was still trying to run a race!

Let’s see….I was running too fast, but my leg felt okay.   I was going to crash and burn, but I was running very smoothly.   By 10 miles I would be walking, but you haven’t run since Monday so you are well rested.   On and on, back and forth both sides of the argument tried to outdo the other side.   And unfortunately, this continued for most of the race.

Being an engineer, I have this little trick I use to keep up with my splits and pace.   Originally, I had a goal of about a 7:30 pace.   So when I hit the mile mark at 7:15, I was 15 under.   From the mile mark to the two mile mark, I kept trying to force in the thought 15:00 which was my benchmark for the two mile mark.   I hit it at 14:30,   so I was now 30 under.

As the race went on and I began to think I could have a good race, I developed tunnel vision and only thought about the next benchmark.   If you drove me down the street I raced on right now, I would not recognize it.   I don’t remember what anything looked like.   I was just running.

I did manage to look up for enough time to see Louise, Christine and Marci after I left the park.   Other than that, it was just the road.   When I hit the 10 mile mark, I was 1:55 under.   My 10 mile split of 1:13:05 was 1:25 under my race time at the beginning of the month.   And that had me at about a 7:18 minutes/mile average.   And then things changed.

This woman I was pacing with started picking up the pace.   For some reason, I had the feeling that I must have been slowing down, so I accelerated as well.   I was breathing heavier and pushing harder, but I figured out that it must have been all the little devil things coming to fruition.   So I decided to do what I could and pick up the pieces when I crashed.

I didn’t.   I figured out later that my last 5K was at a 6:55 pace.   I basically gave it everything I had and crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 33 minutes and 58 seconds.   That ended up being a 7:11 average for the half!   Woo-hoo!   I was in shock.   I ended up 46th place out of 1379 racers.   I waited at the finish line as Blake, Mike, Louise, Christine and Marci all came blazing across with very good times.   We all wandered to the party area and helped lighten the Michelob Ultra truck as we listened to Trombone Shorty!   It ended up being a great day for Team Running on Faith.

But now for the hard part.   I have hope again.   And with that means more hard work and a renewed sense of training.   I will be back at the physical therapists tomorrow followed by a run.   Less than 5 weeks to go and the real test will be here.   Wish me luck!

Tags: Jazz Half, Race, running on faith