High Mountain Half-Marathon Recap
This past weekend’s race in AZ, was my 13th Half-Marathon. I haven’t written a blog post in almost 4 years and I was just going to do what I’ve usually done, after I run a live race: Post a quick blurb about it on Instagram & FB. But my quick blurb kept turning into several paragraphs, so here we are.
I was extremely nervous coming into this race and definitely put a lot of pressure on myself. As some of you know, I started my training for the Chicago marathon a couple months ago and I also hired a professional running coach so I was nervous to find out were my training was at since I felt that it had just been okay. This was probably due to the fact that running in Las Vegas during the summer can be a little demoralizing at times since the heat can take its toll on you and your runs don’t go as smoothly as they usually do during cooler temperatures. This was definitely the case in the past couple months where my paces seemed slower than what I’ve been capable of. Plus the fact that I hadn’t ran a live race in almost 2 years, due to COVID-19 race postponements, just added to everything. OH I forgot to mention that my left quad and hamstring started acting up earlier in the week so there was that too.
This race was held in Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ, which had race day temps in the low 60’s so it was a night and day difference from current temperatures in Las Vegas. I hoped that my body would be more efficient in these colder temps. I’ll skip the race morning routine with jitters, and get right to the main event.
My coach recommended that I shoot for an 8:20-8:30 pace. I started off a little faster than my coach had recommended. Mile 1 - 8:09 pace. I don’t know if it was the excitement of actually running a live race or that I felt good but I thought to myself, this 60 degree weather is awesome compared to the Vegas heat so I think I can maintain this pace. Mile 2 - 7:50 pace. Ok, I should probably ease up a little. But then again, I’m not liking this gravel road since it feels a little like running in sand. Not a fan of it. Sure its a good workout but I’m not trying to get a good workout right now, I’m trying to get through this race as quickly as possible. Mile 3 - 8:05 pace. Ok, that’s more like it, keep pulling it back a little. Mile 4 - 8:01, Mile 5 - 8:08, Mile 6 - 7:51 pace. Well this isn’t 8:20-8:30 but the terrain has had a few hills and some downhill and I still feel good. Especially on the hills. Some runners are struggling when they get to those hills but I’m not, I’m able to speed up and pass them. Even with that, with each mile that past, self-doubt started to creep in and I wondered if I would be paying for it later on. I focused on just getting through each mile and was crossing my fingers that my left leg wouldn’t act up since it was not 100%. Mile 7 - 7:43 pace. My left leg started acting up. It became harder to fully extend it and I could tell that my right leg was compensating for it. Well of course it is acting up, Johnny, you just ran a 7:43! I still feel good though. Yes, its taking more effort but I’m halfway there.
Mile 8 - 7:42, Mile 9 - 7:29 pace. My left leg kept tightening up and I very much wanted to pullback or stop during these 2 miles. I thought to myself, this is where you bonk out and regret starting out the race faster than was recommended. The funny thing is that I didn’t feel gassed, I had fueled and hydrated properly. I knew that I had trained in much harder conditions the past couple months. Plus I’ll be honest, at that point I started to think about how I didn’t want to disappoint those that have supported me along this journey. I know I shouldn’t think that because that can put more pressure on things than is needed but I truly do appreciate all the support I have gotten and I was not about to quit or dial it back because it was starting to get hard. I must push through. Mile 10 - 7:39, Mile 11 - 7:34 pace. Holy Shit. The legs are hurting but I’m somehow still hitting those faster paces. I so want to stop and stretch but I know that if I stop it will be demoralizing and I won’t want to start running again. Just a couple more miles left. Mile 12 - 7:46 pace. Sure, my gait is a little off because I’m pretty sure I have a blister on the bottom of my left foot (I do have a blister). Sure there is some incline left but only 1.1 Miles left. That’s nothing. I didn’t run 12 miles in these faster paces to just have it end here in a walk. LFG! Mile 13 - 8:01 pace. I started to fade a little in that last mile but seeing a couple runners pass me lit a fire in me that made me pull off one final surge in the last half mile. That competitive spirit came alive and I passed the runners that had passed me and I sprinted the final 200 meters onto the Blue Ridge High School race track, which was were the finish line was located. I was breathing so hard that I’m pretty sure I scared the people I was running by. I ended up finishing with a time of 1:42:32, which is about a 7:50 pace. I also placed 1st in my Age Group!
(As I was trying to get my heart rate down and get some water, a runner crossed the finish line probably about a minute after I did. He came up to me, fist bump me and said, “Good job, man! I tried to stay with you but man once you hit those hills I couldn’t keep up. Congrats!” I congratulated him as well and then my thoughts quickly went to two of my favorite running Peloton instructors, Becs Gentry & Matt Wilpers. They are always adding hills (incline) to their workouts and I’m always cursing them because WHY?! LOL. They are always talking about how there are hills outside and if you prepare for them, come race day you won’t have any trouble. Thank you Becs & Matt!)
Thank you to everyone who always sends your support via social. Thank you to my friend Danny for inviting me to do this race with him because it kept us both motivated during our training. He completed his first half-marathon during this race, awesome job man!
Lastly, thank you to my girlfriend, Valeria. As any runner knows, your better half has to put up with a lot of miles and workouts that you put in during training. I’m grateful for all your love, support and encouragement…and those balloons and cake when I arrived home, where such a sweet surprise :)
Looks like my marathon training is going better than I thought and this is definitely a confidence booster for the next 2 months, as I continue prepping for the Chicago Marathon.
