Marshall Half Marathon

This race report should actually begin last February. I had just run the Last Chance for Boston Half Marathon as a tune up race for the Pittsburgh Marathon. The morning after the race my foot hurt so bad that I could barely walk. I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and told that it was something that I could run through until it gets better. In reality, the injury pretty much grounded me for a full three months and when the pain was finally gone, so was almost all of my fitness and endurance.

In June, I was able to start rebuilding my base slowly but surely. It was very frustrating but it was better than not being able to run. By the end of July, I started thinking about running the Columbus Marathon in October. I knew that it was a tough goal with very little room for training errors. My fallback plan would be to run the 1/2 in Columbus and then run the full marathon in Las Vegas in December. Then my wife informed me that she had to go out of town on business the morning of the Columbus race. With that information, I realized that I wouldn't be able to run Columbus. I was actually relieved. Now I could focus solely on Vegas.

I continued training but soon realized that there was just no way I could go to Vegas without having raced since February. I needed a tune up race to get a feel for my fitness and speed so I would be able to set realistic goals for the Vegas race. I started searching for a nearby half marathon and Huntington, WV was the closest I could find. It was the only choice I had.

Usually, when I run a half marathon as a training run, I tell myself that it is only a training run and then when I get out there my competitiveness takes over and I start racing the darn thing. I knew that this time, with Vegas only four weeks away, I really needed to run a disciplined race, one where I could gauge my fitness without wearing down my body so much that I would need to take time off from training to recover.

I decided the plan would be to run the race at 7:40 pace and maybe, if I was feeling really good, I could pick it up a bit but no faster than 7:30 pace. For once, I was able to stick to the plan.

THE RACE:

The weather was in the mid-20s at the start. I love running in this weather but it's a bit cold for most people. I ran a warm up mile and determined that a short sleeve shirt under a long sleeve shirt with shorts, a hat, and throw away gloves was just right for racing in.

We lined up at the start but it took forever for the race to start. The race director was talking but the PA system wasn't powerful enough for us to hear him over all of the runners chatting. I noticed a guy dressed in a Batman costume and vowed to not let Batman beat me. Finally, the starting gun sounded and we were off. I quickly settled into my 7:40 pace and then my friend Lisa ran by, telling me that she got stuck behind some people. Then just like that, she was gone.

The first few miles went by quickly and I resisted the temptation to chase faster runners. My first five splits were: 7:41, 7:30, 7:40, 7:42, 7:34. I really had to resist picking up the pace but after the first five miles I decided to pick it up just a little, still staying within the 7:30-7:40 range and told myself that if I still felt good at mile 10 then I could push the pace to the finish. Splits six through ten: 7:36, 7:41, 7:36, 7:32, 7:33. I noticed in miles 6-10 that I was slowly but surely picking off five or six runners per mile.

At mile 10, I saw Batman. He was about 50 yards ahead of me but he was definitely coming back to me. I picked up the pace and went after him. I closed on him and passed him in no time. Thank god a guy dressed in a costume wasn't going to beat me. After passing Batman, I picked off a few more runners and realized that I was still feeling really fresh. This was exactly what I wanted. Mile 11 split was 7:18.

I turned a corner after mile 11 and there was a long straight away. I could see
two people about 50 yards ahead of me and then 5 more runners probably 100 yards ahead. I vowed to catch all of them. I closed on the nearest two pretty quickly. One guy, who looked like he might be in my age group, tried to hang with me briefly but then he faded. I still had 5 runners to pass and I was running out of time. Mile 12 split: 7:22.

At this point, I thought that it was a straight shot up the road to the stadium and the finish line. I passed two more runners and then suddenly volunteers were directing me across the street and onto the sidewalk. Then I remembered that there was a tribute to the students who died in the 1970 plane crash (the movie: We Are Marshall) and runners had the option of carrying a flower for 200 yards and dropping it at the memorial fountain. I passed a runner, took a flower and turned onto campus in search of this fountain. I felt like I was running forever with this flower and was seriously thinking about just dropping it when I suddenly saw the fountain. I laid down the flower just as I passed a runner. There was still one guy ahead of me but I was closing on him. I finally caught him. He told me good job or something like that and then he stopped and started walking. I think he knew I was coming up on him and fought me as long as he could but once I passed him he was done.

So now I'm flying across campus, I've passed everyone who I had been gunning for and I realize there is absolutely no one in front of me in my sight line and I have no idea where I'm going. This portion of the course winds through campus and I'm trusting my instincts and looking for spray painted arrows on the ground. It's that terrible feeling that I dream about so often. Being in a race and getting lost.

I somehow navigate my way through the campus maze and I finally see a volunteer. She tells me to head across the street, up the sidewalk and into the stadium. I know that the race ends with a 100 yard dash down the center of the football field and they even give you the option of carrying a football. Marshall tradition. So I head down this ramp and onto the field and there are people everywhere and I hear my friend Lisa cheering me on but I have absolutely no idea where I'm supposed to run and no one is telling me. I turn to the right and start running down the sideline, still not sure if this is right but no one is yelling for me to stop or turn around so I just keep going. I run the length of the field and finally get a grasp on the set up. I turn left and a volunteer asks me if I want to carry the ball. I nod yes, she tosses it to me. I catch it and turn onto the field. I'm flying down the field, carrying a football, going 100 yards to the endzone for the first time in, well, ever. I can hear Lisa screaming and I look up at the clock and realize that she is yelling for me to push to finish under 1:39. I cross the line in 1:38:56. Final 1.1 mile at 7:04 pace. (photo of me carrying the football).

We try to do the math to see what my overall pace was and finally just check the Garmin and are excited that I hit my goal time. I ask her how she did and she says she sucked and was terrible and ran 1:34 something. Only after I got home and results were posted do I realize that her sucky, terrible 1:34 was good for first place in her age group by over eleven minutes! I ended up third in my age group which I guess is pretty good for a training run. If I had raced it, I might have finished second but definitely not first.

So what does all this mean? It was a good confidence builder for sure. It was nice to feel strong enough to pass so many runners toward the end. If I'm being honest with myself, I think it sets me up for a 7:50 pace "A" goal for Vegas and I'm feeling pretty good about my chances of re-qualifying for Boston. But I definitely needed this race so I could remember what racing felt like and it was a great opportunity to practice the mental discipline that a BQ effort will require. I still don't feel like I'm 100% back to where I was before my injury but I know that I'm getting close and that is good enough for now.