Race #179
Half Marathon #65
2019 Race #23
2019 Half Marathon #14
North Carolina Half Marathon #11
Santa Hustle Half Marathon #1
A month or so ago, I decided that I wanted to get in another half marathon in December. In this area, half marathons are surprisingly hard to come across, at least ones a reasonable distance away. I found one that might work but as a trail run, I hesitated. Then I found this race, just outside Charlotte, definitely a reasonable distance away. Plus, instead of a shirt, they gave either a hoodie or a zip up jacket (I chose the jacket of course) as the swag.
Earlier this week I decided to drive up with Mom the night before and stay in a hotel close to the race. Driving up the morning of the race can be done but both Charlotte and Columbia this year showed me that I definitely prefer to get a solid night of sleep the night before. Thanks to a free night on hotels.com, I paid a mere $22 for the night, well worth the peace of mind and full night’s sleep.
Even if Mom had decided last minute to run with me, an unfortunate trip and fall on last Saturday’s run has placed her on the DL this past week. While she has fallen significantly less than I have, when she does fall, she does it spectacularly.
Weather.com predicted some rain at the start but thankfully the storm came through much earlier and we had a moist yet nippy chill in the air when we started in the adorable little town of Belmont, North Carolina. (The race ran through Belmont and Cramerton.)
We picked up my bib and jacket which exceeded my expectations. I love it!
We waited in the car for a few minutes before heading to the start line which had approximate corrals set up within metal barriers. I suspected that I would have to enter at the very back and make my way up but I walked with Mom outside the metal barrier just in case. No dice. I needed to go back and do it again. Once inside the barriers I made my way up to the front, following another girl who just abruptly stopped between two other people. I had to walk all the way over to the other side of the corrals to find my way around and up to the nine minute pace corral sign.
On the way to the race start, I realized that I had not looked at my day planner where I had my goal pace written so I decided that I wanted to run sub 1:55 so I looked up that pace and decided to aim for sub 9 minute miles. Spoiler alert: I did not hit that goal for all of the miles but I definitely ran sub 1:55.
A little after 8, we started. Uphill
Thankfully, that hill did not last long. We took a turn at the top of the hill and headed down a gradual downhill.
I remember thinking that I had no idea about the elevation changes that would come my way. I had looked at the course map prior to the race, surprising for me, but that map did not list any elevation details. I even searched for uploads from previous years of the race but did not find anything.
The effort felt good and after a few quick glances at my Garmin, I decided to run by effort, to get into a comfortably hard pace and maintain that. I did not bring any fuel aside from the Gatorade in my OrangeMud vest bottle and told myself that I would run the entire thing, that I would not walk once. Mission accomplished.
I even saw Mom, unexpectedly right after mile 2! She had headed back to the car when she heard a police siren indicating the lead runner so she hurried over.
I did not hear her first shout but I heard the second.
The downhill lasted for the first four miles, the easiest miles of the race. Throughout these miles, several people passed me and continued to pace. I did not let the fact discourage me. Instead, I focused on committing to my pace.
Mile 1: 8:17
Mile 2: 8:43 (slight uphill here)
Mile 3: 8:29
Mile 4: 8:26
I could tell right away when the uphill started. In a picture, you could never tell that the hill had started but every runner felt it. Over the next twenty minutes, the elevation increased just over a hundred feet, not a huge gain but spread out like that with no plateau, makes the change even more significant.
I told myself after a few minutes of climbing that the hill might not ever end but I would get to the finish. I know that sounds defeatist but it actually motivated me and helped me enjoy the downhill when it came a couple miles later.
Mile 5: 9:10
Mile 6: 8:57
The rest of the race meandered through these small towns with plenty of slow rollers making even effort the way to attack the race rather than straight pace.
Occasionally I would see a runner up ahead and challenge myself to pass her even as I got passed sporadically by a few men including one in a red shirt whose strava app I heard indicate the mile marker right around mine just before he passed the first time.
Remember red shirt guy; he becomes important later.
Nothing eventful happened in these miles. I could feel the effort I have put in this past week as well as this race, since I finished the week just over half a mile short of 40 miles for the first time in many months yet, I kept maintaining the effort and avoiding neurotically checking my Garmin to see if I still maintained sub 9 minute pace.
I did accidentally look at the pace once when my Garmin vibrated. I looked down at these notifications periodically since my Garmin had started to measure the miles shorter than the mile markers. I also have notifications about elevation, steps, and intensity minutes that come across. Thankfully, I got a pleasant surprise with an 8:47 for mile 7.
Mile 7: 8:47
Mile 8: 8:41
Mile 9: 9:10 (we had another lovely little hill in this mile)
Mile 10: 8:43
Things started to get a little interesting at this point.
Back just before the start of the race, I heard the announcer say something about 2 laps on a track. Unfortunately, he did not use a microphone or repeat the information so I have no idea of the other words he stated. I kept that knowledge in the back of my head and hoped they would have some indication at the track that we should take two laps.
About half a mile after the mile 10 mile marker, we reached the track. I still ran a bit behind red shirt guy as we wove our way through the different access roads at a local high school. I figured that we would run the two laps here so when we got to the track, I expected to see a volunteer or a sign indicating our requirement to run two laps. Nothing. I saw one person standing off to the side as we entered the track but he had a bib on so I figured he must be waiting for someone. I decided to follow red shirt guy’s lead since I had no idea whether the people already on the track had run two laps or not.
Bad idea.
Either red shirt guy hadn’t heard the same thing I did, or he decided to ignore it because when we got back around the track, he exited so I followed him. Maybe I had misheard the announcer. After all, nothing on the track indicated that we had to take two laps and I did not see anyone else keep running after they returned to the entrance point.
As we climbed the hill to get out of the high school grounds, a runner passed me that I knew had passed me a little ways before, a runner that I did not remember passing back and my heart sank.
Then when my watch read 10.4 (already about a quarter mile short) we passed the mile 11 marker. We were supposed to take two laps. I felt horrible, like I had cheated myself. Even though I followed all the indications that I had available, I knew I should have listened to my gut and ran that second lap. Now I had no way to make up that quarter mile.
I felt it as I passed runners somehow able to maintain a fairly good pace as I headed towards the finished. I felt almost like a purposeful course cutter – something I despise – even though I had done it inadvertently.
Now it felt like that missed second lap had tainted my entire race even though I know that it didn’t.
Thankfully, I continued to run strong, stronger than I had earlier in the race, even as we encountered other significant inclines with little downhill relief.
After I saw the mile 12 marker, I managed to pass red shirt guy. That pass felt justified. He ran the same amount that I did.
I kept pushing, especially when I knew that I had less than half a mile remaining.
As we headed towards the last turn with barely a tenth of a mile remaining, I really poured on the sprint. I just barely caught a guy and knew that he would not like getting passed in the last few meters before the race ended.
As soon as I came around his right side, I could see him out of the corner of my eye attempt to pick up the pace and prevent me from passing him. No way. I would outrun him, outsprint him and I did! I felt like I lifted my knees so high. I also, strangely, at that moment, felt like my feet would slip in my shoes because they suddenly felt too big.
Thankfully, no slipping occurred. I finished strong, grabbed my medal and glanced down at my garmin, pleasantly surprised to see a 1:49:33 on the screen. Obviously, I did not run a sub 1:50 half since I missed that lap but I definitely ran sub 1:55 and would have gotten that had I ran that extra quarter mile.
Mile 11: 9:04
Mile 12: 8:57
Mile 13: 7:33
Overall time: 1:51:44* I added the approximately 2 minutes 11 seconds that it would have taken me to run that lap.
I really enjoyed this race and definitely plan to try to make it up for next years!
