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2013; Eat my dust Meno!
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On the back of pre-race post above, I headed off to Kildare with Meno and RQ, still really unsure as to what I should do. The sensible and cautious part of me was saying that I should really give the hard race plan a miss, and that I just run easy as a training run, and then find another HM in a week or two when I was feeling better. The other less sensible (more dominant, competitive, reckless…) part of me was saying screw that, get some ventolin into you, open up the windpipes and just go for it. Obviously the latter prevailed and of course I'm paying for it today… if one more person tells me I look and sound like sh*t, I may have to hit them… Anyhoo, c'est la vie. I think it was worth it - I'll be better soon.
My rough plan was that I wanted to break 1:36.57 (that being a certain someone's recent PB
), secretly I wanted to break 1:35, and super-secretly I was going to for McMillan's HM prediction of 1:32.13 based on my 5k time from last weekend. I knew what pace I needed to average to hit each of those times.
I lined up about 10 rows from the start, checking out people up ahead that should not have been ahead of the 2 hour pacers, never mind in the front row with the top guys. This lack of cop-on continues to annoy me (and everyone else with half a brain no doubt). I managed to fight my way through pretty nifty and didn't get caught up in the start line congestion for more than a few hundred metres. Off drifted the 1:30 balloons into the distance. That was fine. Around half a mile in, I spied Marthastew and MrStew and ran behind them for a while. Then I decided (for no real reason) to kick on ahead and just run my own race. I only managed a quick wave as I passed them as yesterday was not a day for chats! The wind at this point was a killer but I tried not to think about it too much - I was already feeling it and it was far too early to let the negativity creep in. After 2 ish miles, we came up towards the hill at the back of the Curragh Camp. It was so wide open and windy and I was looking around for people to shelter behind. I caught two guys but I reckoned they were running c.7:20/30 and I feared that if I gave in to easing back to that from the 7:07 I was at, that it would be game over way too early. This was how I found myself completely out on my own into the teeth of an enormous headwind, practically being blown backwards and using everything from my toes to my fingertips to maintain pace up to the camp. I think (and I'll have to check the splits tonight) that I was at about 7:09 at the 3/3.5 mile mark. After that climb, there was a nice downhill which I took advantage of instead of recovering on. I wondered whether this was a good idea but it didn’t come back to bite me thank god. This brought the average back down to about 7:07.
At around the 4 mile mark, I got that dastardly stitch in my lower right ab muscles. I gave into it for a few minutes, panicking about having to run 9 more tough miles on it, but then I made the decision to not let it get into my head. Shook out the arms and took a few deep breaths. By the 5 mile mark, I started to get a bit shivery. This was strange and unwelcome. I tried to think what it might be and thinking about the fact I had only had a slice and a half of toast, a cup of tea and 750mls of water at 8:30am, I realised I was probably hitting a bit of an energy slump. I grabbed a 250ml bottle of water at around 6miles - I had no congestion issues at the water tables as there was not a huge amount of people in my vicinity. I threw half an electrolyte tablet into the bottle and sipped away for about 2.5miles. Felt so much better once that kicked in.
At the 5 mile mark, someone had shouted that myself and another girl were pretty high up the field and that we should work together. I thought this was a great idea. But she had ear phones in and didn't hear. I made a couple of steps on her when I was going for my water which she did not appreciate; she fired back on by me but only made a metre or so, and there she stayed. She was running alongside some guy who I assumed was pacing her, so I just stayed put and kept it steady behind them. After a mile or so she fell off the guy's pace but I kept with him having figured out he was running steady 7:05's. At the 8/9 mile mark I decided to push on and see if I could put some distance between him and I. I managed to pass him with my eye on another woman up ahead. This was the first race I've run where I've consciously thought about passing people in order to gain places in results. Interesting… After I passed her, she came back with a bit of pressure. So I engaged a lesson I had learned at the 5k last week - I waited a few minutes until she got comfortable, and until I knew I could really put the foot down to pass her properly and put a decent distance between us. Sure as planned, she wasn't expecting it and couldn't hold on.
I took half a gel at about 9.5/10 miles which was mostly a precaution based on how I had felt earlier. I would have taken an entire one but I wasn't sure how the tum would react. I know I can what I want running 9 minute miles but 7 minute miles are a different kettle of fish for me altogether. A glance over my shoulder at this stage showed that I had left the other girls and was now heading a group of about 6 guys. This was This was how it stayed right up until 12 miles - at which the point the wind had thankfully given us some grace and was behind us. I don't know how I would have finished had I had to fight into the wind. I passed by Aimman who gave me a shout out and I knew (Meno having earlier calculated the pacing/finishing times etc) that the end was nigh. A couple of the guys who had been keeping my pace pushed on for what was probably a final 6 minute mile for them. I fell into pace with a guy from the local running club and we were silent companions battling it out every step of the last mile. We definitely kept each other going. I got a visit from a mental demon about half a mile from the finish line - telling me that I could stop and walk and I'd still PB and sure there was no need to push my body on through the barriers that it was putting up to stop running. My average pace had come down to 7:04 by the end. The finishing straight got and took everything I had left at that point and I knew I had crossed sub 1:34.
The support along the route was great for the location and the size of the race. I had no issues with water stations as I was a lonely enough runner. The traffic after the race was a bit of pain but so what really. Not the end of the world. As a friend of a pacer, we were treated like royalty for post race refreshments and RQ provided the most amazing chocolate biscuit cake as promised. I don't care that I looked like a fat piggie taking the largest slice - it was the least I deserved taking my life and my precious car into a place where kids throw bangers and stones at innocent posh people...!!
Generally, my feelings are that the 7:05 pace was pretty comfortable (in terms of racing effort). Not that I would have had a huge amount more in me, but at no point during the first 12 miles did the breathing get out of control, nor did the legs cramp or tire or start to slack off. The wind was a nightmare in parts and a dream in parts (more nightmare-ish in reality!). There were a few tough climbs but there were also a few welcome downhills. I measured the course long - 13.26 miles - but I was aware that I wasn’t running the shortest course. There was fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing for whatever reason. Although it probably wasn't that far out, and the Garmin shall take some of the blame.
Garmin - 13.26 miles @ 7:04 - will check mile splits later (for my own information)
Official Chip Time: 1:33.35 - absolutely delighted with that!! I honestly didn't see it coming even though I really wanted it
8th female out of X females (no split categories)
82nd finisher out of 1288 finishers (1304 starters)
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Berlin training starts today with a rest day or an easy jog. I think I'll go for the easy jog and loosen out the legs.
I am genuinely so excited about getting stuck into structured training and seeing what the next 4 months bring. I'll have a lot of guidance from someone wha actually knows about this running lark (as well as a lot of company (and a wrecked head no doubt!) from a certain digger), for which I am grateful in advance!
Bring it on!!
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Congrats on a fantastic PB. 
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