Race #162
Half Marathon ##54
2019 Race #6
South Carolina Half Marathon #41
2019 Half Marathon #3
Run Hard Columbia Half Marathon #2

With this half marathon, I have run the same number of half marathons as 5ks. I told Mom this and responded that she would rather run a half than a 5k any day. Love it!

Last year we came down the Friday before heading to the race. This time, Mom and I left the house in the dark fog around 5:30 to drive down the morning of. She would not run this half with me but would get in her own long run around the finish line area while I ran around Columbia.

I had a bit of apprehension because for some strange reason, my right lower calf/ankle has felt strangely tight over the past couple days. (I am making sure to stretch and foam roll and it seems to be getting better.) Other than that, I knew that I could knock out a half marathon easy. I have felt strong throughout the week so I thought that the race could go well although I figured that my time would be slower thanks to the ridiculous hills of the course. (I decided at one point in the race that I have zero desire to ever run this marathon. Those poor souls running the marathon have to complete the torturous loops twice.

Both Mom and I estimated that the drive down would take an hour and a half. We underestimated the drive which actually takes closer to one hour forty-five minutes. That meant that we arrived with approximately 15 minutes before the race. I needed to grab my bib and pin it on and get to the start. We tried to find parking but could not find anything that did not have a meter. Although Ellis said later that we probably did not have to pay on the weekends, to be safe, Mom dropped me off less than a block from the start and continued to find parking. I had just enough time to pick up my bib, stand in the portopotty line and make my way to the start as the anthem played.

Standing in the portopotty line

Mom ended up finding parking not far away, figuring out how to feed the meter, and making it to the start just in time to see the stragglers head out. She then picked up my shirt which I had left on a brick wall and sent a picture to her, dropped it off at the car and started her own run. She got in 7 miles today!

I did not have a lot of enthusiasm for this race. I had no psyched myself up mentally and spent a good bit of the first mile paying close attention to my right calf/ankle. I definitely felt it at first but I do not remember when it “went away.” Around mile 2, I decided to go ahead and take walking breaks every four miles as I have for the past several races, excepting last week. I knew that the hills to come, not the small rollers of the first couple miles.

We also made plenty of turns in this section as we wove our way through downtown before getting to some straightaways, with plenty of hills along the way. I had an additional obstacle join the party with my nose producing an obscene amount of excess mucus. I kept telling myself that I would take the walk break opportunity to blow my nose so upon starting to walk after mile marker 4.

Mile 1: 8:24
Mile 2: 8:50
Mile 3: 8:38
Mile 4: 8:44

After the nose blowing/walking break, I picked the pace back up and once again felt strong. I do not have many specific memories of this section. I remember feeling relatively good and choosing to avoid looking at my watch. I have found over the course of successive races that I run better without constantly, neurotically checking my watch. When we passed mile 6 and I saw a timing clock. I wish they hadn’t had it there because I started thinking about what that meant for pace. Thankfully, though, I did not think on it for long and soon put it out of my mind. We had a few hills in this section; none of the sections lacked hills. I think I ran them alright although I did not mind when mile 8 came around and time for another walk break. I, of course, needed to blow my nose again but with my singlet, I lacked sleeves on which to wipe my nose, thus making blowing it difficult. Once again, I used the walking break as my opportunity.

Mile 5: 8:36
Mile 6: 8:44
Mile 7: 8:59
Mile 8: 8:19

The hills started to get tough in this section. I did not feel exhausted but I also did not like the hills. When we passed the mile 10 mile marker, and I looked ahead, I saw Gervais Street stretching on ahead of me in an unrelenting incline. I remembered this terrible “mountain” from last year. Right then, however, my latest addition to my running playlist came on, the clean version of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” What a fantastic beat. By shortening my stride and trying to match my cadence to the beat, I almost made it all the way up Gervais without walking. That hill, though. Wow, what an incline. I did walk for a minute at the top. I had to. I had glanced at my Garmin shortly after mile 10 and knew that I had a little over half an hour to complete my 5k remaining. I considered walking again at mile 12 like I had planned but I ended up keeping on going.

Mom got me turning the corner off Gervais!

We made the turn off Gervais and I knew that only a mile remained. I wanted to walk, my legs felt almost done but I kept on counting in my head, something I do to help pass the time before I allow myself to look at my watch again or walk. By the time I finished that process, I had already turned onto Main and l could see the finish line in the distance. So, I kept going. Shortly before the finish, I saw Mom, put on a big grin, and headed to the right with the other half marathon finishers.

Finishing strong!

Mile 9: 9:10
Mile 10: 8:50
Mile 11: 8:57
Mile 12: 9:06
Mile 13: 8:34
.1 nubbin: 6:36 (pace)
Overall: 1:54:55

As soon as I finished, I cut to the left and went to find Mom. Seconds later, I realized that I had forgotten to grab my medal. Whoops! There’s a first time for everything. 🙂

I’m glad we made the trek down there. I still have no desire to run the marathon although the hilly half makes for quite a challenge!