Today was PR day. I wanted my 22:XX PR. The course was described as “fast”. I had been training regularly and felt good. But I was nervous. The weather, so recently glorious and cool turned typical Raleigh: race time forecast of 90 degrees, gusty winds. Would the training overcome Mother Nature?

Prerace

I knew the temperature would be a bit abusive, so I’d been hydrating well for the last couple of days. Sure, it ain’t a marathon but practicing hydration never hurts anyway. Being a 2:00 PM race start I had a fairly typical morning, though instead of my usual egg-white omelet I shared in the crepes we made for Julia — who had a friend sleep-over for her birthday — figuring they’d make for a higher-carb morning. I left the house about 12:30 and grabbed a smoothie on the way. I’m used to exercising before lunch so I was concerned how my stomach would do with lunch in my belly but I figured I’d bonk if I didn’t have something. A small smoothie seemed like a decent compromise.

I got to the race area about an hour early, parked and read my book for a bit to relax. About half an hour before race time I wandered up, claimed my race chip and took a final whiz at the perfect time. Still had about 15 minutes before the race and my bladder would be nice and comfy.

This year the race is being held to benefit the NC Hopeful Parents organization and they spoke a bit before the race during warm-ups. This little girl, perhaps 10 or 11, got up and spoke about her experience being adopted. It was obviously emotional for her and when she began speaking about her birth mother, a farmer in Mexico, she couldn’t go on. Precious thing tried to hold it together but it was too big. We all cheered for her bravery as she left the stage and climbed up into her mother’s arms. I got choked up — big surprise, I’m a softy with kids — and wanted to give her a hug too.

With about 10 minutes to go we all started lining up somewhat haphazardly as it was a bit confusing where we were to start. But it worked out. I met up with my boss, Scott, again and we lamented the conditions and talked a bit about our goals. I admit, our own little rivalry is powerful if unspoken. Before the race started he had me by 9 seconds in PR. I hoped to change that.

The first half

I had the 175 BPM Podrunner mix going, hoping to keep my turnover at 175 SPM. I figured at 5K pace it would be doable. The race started and I let Scott get about 3 yards ahead where I could keep an eye on him. I settled into my pace and started getting into the groove. We were both aiming early for about 7:20 but we were a little fast through the first 2/3rds of a mile with adrenaline and crowd confusion, averaging about 7:15 through there. The first mile split came at 7:26 for me, with Scott about the same.

The second mile presents a pretty steady few inclines before the turnaround which conspired with the early speed, the heat and humidity to beat the crap out of us. Scott maintained his pace a bit better than me, steadily widening the gap. The split at the second mile came at 7:33, but my heart rate up that incline and around for the return got up to 185 which is around 97% of my heart rate reserve. At this point I had a goal. It was a different goal from the start but it was a goal nonetheless: don’t stop.

I’ve talked a lot recently about trying to increase my mental resolve back to were it was last summer. Last summer I never quit. Then I got into the Galloway mindset of calculated walks and it affected how I view running. I think calculated walking during training can be beneficial to people. But I think it makes it far easier once you get into that mindset to let yourself give in to the momentary pain. It’s the easiest thing in the world to allow yourself 30 seconds of walking. It feels so wonderful physically to not be running when you’re tired like that. It’s hot, it’s humid, you’re breathing like a bellows, let’s just let off for a bit and catch our breath.

I didn’t want to do that this race. I thought about it. My brain on many an occasion said “this absolutely sucks. Hey man, no one is going to care if you take a little break and walk for a bit. Come on, it’ll feel good and then you’ll be able to get going again in no time.” But I didn’t. Up yours, brain. Yes, this sucks. Yes, it would feel great for a bit. But it would feel worse mentally having given in to your incessant yammering.

So I kept chugging. I wasn’t turning 175 SPM any more, I wasn’t up for it. Following the turnaround there’s a nice downhill that I took advantage of and for the next almost 4/10s of a mile I was pulling closer to a 7:39. Off pace, but faster than the 8:26 pace I eventually hit at the top of the incline. The final tiny incline had me puffing again turning nearer 8:00 pace, then it was the final half a mile, downhill.

I was hoping to have some kick at this point and reel in Scott who had built up a fairly substantial lead. I tried to rally the troops but the soldiers were worn out. My pulse was still pumping at about 93% of my reserve and it was all I could do to get down around 7:30 with a bit at 7:20, but that’s it. Final time according to the Garmin was 24:01.

Thoughts and adjustments

On days like this Boston seems far away. No PR today, not even close. My final average pace was 7:38 overall, and I’d have to do better than that over a full marathon to qualify at my age. That’s daunting and admittedly depressing. I know it wasn’t an ideal day to run. I feel good knowing that I gave pretty much all I had to give out there. I think, as Adam found, that the cumulative years will benefit me most in reaching Boston and I’ve got years to go. I’m in no hurry. If it takes me 10 years to qualify for Boston, it takes 10 years! I’d like to think it’ll take less than that but realistically I may not be ready for that long.

I’ll acclimatize to the heat since I typically train at lunch time anyway. It’ll be painful but helpful. Once you’ve trained at 100 degrees with matching humidity for a while, 90 degrees doesn’t seem so bad.

Scott had come in right around 23:30 again which, given the weather, was a real good showing for us. We’re fairly evenly matched, though he obviously has the edge right now. We’re both scheduled to race the Inside Out Sports Classic Half Marathon in two weeks which will likely be interesting for both of us. He’s never done that distance while I’ve completed two full marathons. I’d like to PR that one which I think it imminently possible since my current PR was in the middle of a marathon — and, unlike the sadistic race directors for this race, the half marathon starts at 7:00 AM — but it’ll be interesting to see if my focus on training for shorter races has already had a negative impact on my endurance. Could be interesting.

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